Conductor Bruno Walter in Prewar Mozart Recording

German-born conductor Bruno Walter's long career included many recordings of the classics, including quite a few renditions of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's last three symphonies: 39th, 40th and 41st "Jupiter". On the latest release, a live concert from 1938, a year before he permanently returned to the United States, adds to the legacy of European prewar symphonic performances, a tradition which Walter - with some others such as Serge Koussevitsky - exported to this country so well. Blue Music Group's release contains the Overture to the Marriage of Figaro, or Le Nozze di Figaro, and the 39th Symphony in four movements.

The opera overture, symphony and the composer needs no presentation, but it may be noteworthy that at the time of the conception of this symphonic masterpiece in 1788, the premiere was - with the best evidence available today - cancelled due to lack of interest. Well, during its two hundred twenty two years of life and countless performances, the fame of the composer as well as the work has surpassed all belief of even Mozart himself.

Bruno Walter, who conducted orchestras here as well as in Europe, delivers quality as is expected. Where his later stereo recordings for Sony Classical with the New York Philharmonic may be generally a bit sweet in character, this one is what the insiders would consider "the real meat" in terms of interpretation. It nicely contrasts the prettiness, an all-too-common crime when Mozart is within the American spotlight. Mozart's scores may look pretty and clean at a first glance, and they certainly give the feeling of "easy listening", but any serious musicianship of this music requires a rather broad look at what Mozart expresses with his late works. To put it blatantly, when aware of his post-20's works, the worst mistake would be to say Mozart represents a diametrical opposite to Beethoven as in light vs. gloomy, respectively. But on a more subtle level, it could be said that Walter succeeds with expressing the various nuances of Mozart's seemingly unified compositional style in the early European versions at its the best. This also suggests that Mozart's music was understood quite differently at the height of the romantic era. For purists and authenticists, whose views often prevail today, this gives little comfort, but for those with an interest toward actual sound evidence of music dating back seventy two years, this is a recording of considerable value.

Blue Music Group is a record label which is mainly jazz oriented, but features nice oddities in its classical catalog. They include, apart from this notable Mozart recording, a string of interesting organ performances by the excellent Swedish organist Torvald Torén, Sonata in G by Franz Schubert, and a 1933 recording of Johann Sebastian Bach's Keyboard Concertos, by the Swiss legendary pianist Edwin Fischer's baroque orchestra. Originally expecting a CD in the mail, times have for sure now changed for good to the all digital. This music was an inexpensive and problem-free download with links and a straightforward PayPal payment. Burning it on a PC computer to a CD-R disc took about two minutes, with a few more minutes spent downloading Blue Music Group's printable inserts. Having been a sceptic of the download era, this experience, allowing me to enjoy rare recordings not available on CD, made me convinced the digital era is a wonderful asset for us enthusiasts of older rare recordings.