Mozart Symphonies No 40 & 41 - Bruno Walter conducts The Columbia Symphony Orchestra

Excellent Recording of an Excellent Performance

Very natural-sounding recording of these Mozart symphonies. It’s hard to believe that it was recorded so long ago. I have become a strong proponent of dsd 256 playback and these recordings only strengthen that feeling. If you enjoy Mozart, or even if you’re less enthusiastic, this transfer is worth a listen.

Mozart und Walter - was willst Du mehr.

Walters Aufnahmen haben die Kataloge nie verlassen: Schallplatte, CD, SACD und jetzt vom Tape ist bester Klangqualität. Walters Aufnahmen haben noch nie so gut geklungen. Auch der Mozart ist ein Hochgenuss. Danke HDTT. Achim Lange

A long-beloved recording better than ever

I have lived with these recordings for a long time--on LP when I was first exploring classical music in the early 1960s, later on CD. The transfer I had in my library was the two-CD Odyssey reissue of the last 6 Mozart symphonies. I always loved Walter's lyrical sensitivity, his attention to the singing line. But I always wished the recordings were a little less blurry and thick--the tympani sounded soggy, the strings too much an undifferentiated I mass. I wasn't sure whether this was owing to limitations in the master tape, the "Columbia Symphony" being less adroit than the Philharmonia or the Cleveland, or the fact that Walter wasn't a disciplinarian in the Toscanini-Reiner-Szell tradition. For greater clarity I could turn to Szell (for these two symphonies (he didn't leave a recording of the Linz or the Prague) or Klemperer (also very distinguished but a little bit ponderous). Well, in this transfer, most of what I wished for has been realized. The tympani no longer sound like mud, the string lines are clearly differentiated, and the winds sound more natural. The most severe test is the brief but astonishing display of counterpoint in the coda to the last movement of # 41. You can now hear it much more clearly than on the Odyssey CDs. I still love Szell and Klemperer, but Walter most of all, now that the fog has been lifted from the sound.