Symphonies Nos.39, 40, 41 : Antonello Manacorda / Kammerakademie Potsdam (2CD)

Antonello Manacorda and Kammerakademie Potsdam were euphorically praised for their recording-cycle of Mendelssohn and Schubert symphonies: Manacorda and the Kammerakademie Potsdam know exactly how to offer listening alternatives without stretching the bow too much or even relying on pure effect. [...] Here one notices the pleasure the team has taken in playing this music. (Rondo), Manacorda masterfully builds up phrases and balances the overall sound, and he also possesses an unerring sense of tempo. Everything breathes here, the music is constantly in flow, [...] [a] largely perfect picture. (Concerti) The new album features the famous last three symphonies by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (17561791): Nos. 39, 40 and 41. This tremendous trinity of symphonies was written in Alsergrund in the summer of 1788 and was completed in only two months and completed, moreover, in tandem with a number of other works. Mozart put the finishing touches to the E flat major Symphony on 26 June, following this up with the G minor Symphony on 25 July and with the C major Symphony on 10 August. Mozart conceived very probably this group of three works as a single entity of great inherent variety and he worked on the individual symphonies in parallel. The opening to the E-flat Symphony K543 (No. 39) is conceived like an overture of the trinity and the last movement of the C major Jupiter Symphony K551 (No. 41) seems intended to sum up everything that has come before.