Mozart Symphonies 2 - SCO & Sir Charles Mackerras - Classic FM Magazine

Some of the best Mozart symphony recordings ever? Charles Mackerras probably knows more about classical period performance than any other conductor (he was researching this area decades before it became fashionable.) Sure enough, his approach to Mozartian style here seems near-ideal. Phrasing is crisp and clear, but not brittle. The semi-vibrato string-playing makes musical lines and rhythms ultra-vivid, without sounding harsh or dry. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra is clearly having a great time and conveys it, too. Meanwhile, the Mackerras touch brings out the varying character f these fabulous works, so that the roistering D major crackle of the ‘Haffner' sound subtly but precisely different from the C major grandeur of the ‘Linz'. And the single-movement Symphony No.32 in G major emerges as a far richer and more powerful work than its eighth-minute length would suggest.