Warner Releases of Bruno Walter’s Mozart

1926 engraving by Ferdinand Schmutzer of Felix Weingartner conducting a rehearsal of the Vienna Philharmonic (from a Wikipedia Web page, public domain)

Having taken Warner Classics to task for its “skimpy” account of recordings of Bruno Walter conducting music by Gustav Mahler, I am afraid that the treatment of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is only somewhat less skimpy! To be fair, however, it accounts for the last four of the 41 symphonies: K. 504 (“Prague”) in D major, K. 543 in E-flat major, K. 550 in G minor, and K. 551 (“Jupiter”) in C major. There are also four opera overtures: K. 196 (La finta giardiniera, “The Pretend Garden-Girl”), K. 492 (The Marriage of Figaro), K. 620 (The Magic Flute), and K. 621 (La clemenza di Tito). Furthermore, K. 525, the four-movement serenade best known under the title “Eine kleine nachtmusik” (a little night music), received two recordings, the first made with the British Symphony Orchestra in 1931, followed by the 1936 account with the Vienna Philharmonic.

The one vocal offering is the K. 626 setting of the Requiem text. Soloists Elisabeth Schumann (soprano), Enid Szánthó (mezzo), Anton Dermota (tenor), and Alexander Kipnis (bass) perform with the chorus of the Vienna State Opera. Similarly, there is only one of Mozart’s piano concertos, K. 466 (the twentieth) in D minor; but this is definitely an interesting offering, since the pianist is Walter himself! The only other Mozart offering is the K. 605 set of three German dances, the last of which has the title “Die Schlittenfahrt” (the sleigh ride), whose instrumentation includes five sleigh bells.

I have now been around long enough to appreciate that every generation seems to have its own way of approaching Mozart’s music. Nevertheless, if the interpretations sometimes come across as “dated” when compared with current performances, one can still appreciate Walter’s keen sense of detail. Personally, I was most interested in K. 626, since Dermota was the only soloist I could recall from my vinyl days of listening!

Mind you, after Walter moved to the United States, Mozart received far more attention in his Columbia Symphony Orchestra recordings. Nevertheless, I appreciate the diversity among the three Warner CDs, as well as my encounters with ensembles that were previously unknown to me. Where Mozart is concerned, I suspect that I shall occasionally set aside time for “side-by-side” listening!