MOZART: Symphony No. 39 in E-flat; Symphony No. 40 in g minor – Freiburger Barockorchester/ Rene Jacobs, conductor – Harmonia mundi 901959, 65:15 ***1/2:
Oh the frustrating and exciting Rene Jacobs! He is among the most interesting period conductors today primarily because he doesn’t wax dogmatic about dynamics and phrasing, and is always doing innovative things that even some traditional conductors would hesitate to do for fear of being too out-of-bounds. At the same time he engages in standard period practices that often drive one mad, like the taking of the Menuetto in Symphony 39 at a tempo that would make Beethoven blush. Or using a complement of strings that is totally dominated by the winds in the first movement (they sound recessed, almost like they are there to accompany the other instruments). My real fear is the day when the strings will be reduced a la Bach to a quartet—ugh.
There is nothing to indicate that such rapid tempos were ever used, and no one will ever prove it—all is supposition. Likewise, though we know Mozart delighted at the large complement of players available to him in Paris, showing his true desires in the matter, periodists still insist that the music be played according to what the composer probably “had available”—bunk! [High Fidelity magazine once had an article enumerating all the examples of why Mozart was really an early audiophile – he liked to sit very close to the players, etc…Ed.]
Fortunately Paul McCreesh, one of the largest exemplars of the small period band, showed in his recording of Haydn’s Creation how great these instruments can sound when used in proper (large) proportions. Nevertheless Jacobs continues to march to his own tune, but somehow the unexpected pauses and dynamic swells and all other sorts of manipulations make every recording of his somewhat of an event, even when I swear I will never put them on again. His Mozart is, if anything, lovable and affectionate; this shows in every bar, like it or not, well thought-out and fitting into a master plan (like the soft ending to the last movement of 39), whether ill-conceived or not. It’s the way he makes you re-examine the music, music you thought you knew so well, that challenges the over wear of exhausted repeated hearings. He tries to show us that Mozart has more under the surface and succeeds most of the time, even though I often then return to my other favorite recordings determined to hear them in a different way as well.
Harmonia mundi’s usual production values stand here, with sterling sound.
— Steven Ritter
