Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks; Herbert Blomstedt - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 39, 40 & 41

For today's musicologists, performers and concert-going audiences, Mozart's final symphonies are still a veritable miracle. Why they were written remains a mystery, and no-one knows whether Mozart ever heard them performed during his lifetime. One thing is certain: Mozart created three individual, distinctive and unique works here, which complement each other despite their extreme diversity.
The symphonies in E Major, K 543 (no. 39), G minor, K. 550 (no. 40), and C Major, K. 551 (no. 41, also known as The Jupiter) are the ones that most represent Mozart's symphonic legacy to later generations of musicians. With its slow introduction, the Symphony in E flat major also opens the entire cycle, already giving the listener a sense of its highs and lows.
As early as 1800, the popular Great G minor Symphony was praised as the painting of a passion-stricken soul. Like its big sister, the Jupiter Symphony in C Major, it numbers among the most-played works in classical music and has been immortalized in countless recordings. Nevertheless, these symphonies - probably the most profound ones before Beethoven - reveal themselves as something quite new in every interpretation. Mozart placed all the dark sides of human existence into his G minor Symphony, says Herbert Blomstedt, adding that its passion continues to fascinate him.
The eminent Swedish conductor Herbert Blomstedt, a close associate and regular guest conductor of the BRSO, conducted the E Major Symphony on December 18 and 19, 2019 in the Philharmonie at the Munich Gasteig, the G minor Symphony in concerts on January 31 and February 1, 2013 and the Jupiter Symphony on December 21 and 22, 2017 in the Herkulessaal of Munich's Residenz. The new 2-CD set from BR-KLASSIK now presents these great cornerstones of Mozart's symphonic oeuvre -in the very best sound quality.