In the Viennese (or Salzburg) classical repertoire I've tended to enjoy Harnoncourt most in music of high specific gravity, usually with an orchestra of modern instruments. His recordings of early Haydn and Mozart with the Concentus Musicus have at times seemed inflated and over-forceful, at odds with the music's grace, geniality and lightness of spirit. And I'm afraid the blithe triple-time opening movement of the little G major symphony, No. 12, of 1771 aroused my worst fears: a punishingly insistent performance, with fierce first-beat accents and tuttis of harsh, strenuous brilliance. But as it turns out, this movement represents an extreme case. Elsewhere on the disc the quicker movements are alert and bristling with characteristically colourful, sharp-edged textures, notably in the E flat, No. 19, with its four horns, two pitched in E flat alto; but only occasionally, as in the first movement of No. 24, is Harnoncourt inclined to drive the music too hard. And while you could certainly imagine sunnier, more charming performances (though there is a suggestion of relaxed good humour in the finale of No. 24), Harnoncourt's rhythmic energy, vital characterization and the wonderfully responsive playing of the Concentus Musicus usually makes for arresting listening.
There are, of course, the familiar Harnoncourt discontinuities of tempo between minuets and trios But you may be unprepared for his marked increase in speed for the strange athematic, pseudo-modal trio of No. 19—though as Koopman shows in his Erato recordings, the trio works perfectly well with no change of tempo. Of the slow movement I particularly enjoyed the picturesquely scored (flutes, muted violins and pizzicato basses) Andantino grazioso of No. 24, to which Harnoncourt brings a gentle, musing intensity—Koopman takes a swifter, lighter and perhaps more stylistically authentic view of the movement. I found Harnoncourt less convincing in the Andante of No. 19, based on a Gregorian plainsong melody, where the phrasing sometimes sounds self-conscious. Incidentally, both Harnoncourt and Koopman append the alternative, far briefer slow movement. Mozart wrote for this symphony, enabling listeners to programme their own version.
Using a rather smaller period-instrument band, Koopman's performances of both Nos. 19 and 24 on Erato are generally lither and airier, with crisper, more buoyant articulation and a keener feeling for the music's dance associations; and on balance I prefer them. But this new disc, finely if rather over-resonantly recorded, can be recommended to anyone drawn to Harnoncourt's individual, stimulating, sometimes provocative music-making.'