Symphony No. 39 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, performed by the WDR Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Adam Fischer. Recorded live on December 6 and 7, 2024 at the Kölner Philharmonie.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Symphony No. 39 in E-flat major, K. 543
00:00:00 I. Adagio – Allegro
00:10:30 II. Andante con moto
00:18:33 III. Menuetto. Allegretto
00:22:27 IV. Finale. Allegro
WDR Symphony Orchestra
Adam Fischer, conductor
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Introduction:
In the early 19th century, Mozart's E-flat major Symphony was known as his “swan song”. It was thought to be his last great work – regardless of the G minor and C major symphonies. This is because at the time, orchestral works were often published in chamber music arrangements. In a popular edition for piano, flute, violin and cello by Mozart's student Johann Nepomuk Hummel, the E flat major symphony is the last.
Mozart opens the work with a slow introduction. Musicologist and conductor Peter Gülke – who proposed the theory of a cycle for the three symphonies – sees this section as the opening of the entire triad: solemn, announcing something important, harmonically sharp. The fast main section then surprises with a sparkling lightness. The way Mozart packs dreamy tenderness, jubilation, brief melancholy clouds and drama into the smallest space seems all the more masterful because he manages to make the contrasts seem natural. The ending of this symphony has repeatedly stirred the emotions.
the Swiss musicologist Hans Georg Nägeli – a contemporary of Beethoven – called it “in the last two bars so unstylistically inconclusive, so snapping off, that the unbiased listener does not
know what is happening to him”. And indeed: what we may perceive today as a refreshing surprise effect was nothing but irritating to Mozart's contemporaries.
Text: Otto Hagedorn