Mozart & Voříšek: Orchestral Works Gewandhausorchester & Herbert Blomstedt

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791): Symphony No. 38 in D Major, K. 504 "Prague":
• 1 Mozart: Symphony No. 38 in D Major, K. 504 "Prague": I. Adagio 17:52
• 2 Mozart: Symphony No. 38 in D Major, K. 504 "Prague": II. Andante 12:01
• 3 Mozart: Symphony No. 38 in D Major, K. 504 "Prague": III. Presto 08:32
• Jan Václav Voříšek (1791 - 1825): Symphony in D Major, Op. 23:
• 4 Voříšek: Symphony in D Major, Op. 23: I. Allegro con brio 08:30
• 5 Voříšek: Symphony in D Major, Op. 23: II. Andante 08:34
• 6 Voříšek: Symphony in D Major, Op. 23: III. Scherzo 06:45
• 7 Voříšek: Symphony in D Major, Op. 23: IV. Finale 06:33
• Total Runtime 01:08:47

Info for Mozart & Voříšek: Orchestral Works

With these recordings, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig embarks on a musical journey to the Czech Republic in memory of its former conductor Václav Neumann. It was there that Jan Václav Voríšek was born in 1791, the year of Mozart’s death, and was taken away from it by pulmonary tuberculosis at the same age as Mozart, only 34 years old. The manuscript of his D Major Symphony shares the fate of the symphonies of his friend and companion Franz Schubert and was neither printed nor performed during his lifetime. In the meantime, however, it has become his most frequently performed work!

A short, late and rare happy chapter of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s moving biography is set in the capital of the Czech Republic. When he arrived in Prague in January 1787, he was quite astonished: That his music met with such great enthusiasm was by no means a matter of course for Mozart. Looking back, he will describe his successes in Prague as the most beautiful moments of his life. The D Major Symphony K. 504 was premiered in Prague and opens the group of Mozart’s last four symphonies.

Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
Herbert Blomstedt, conductor

Herbert Blomstedt
Noble, charming, sober, modest. Such qualities may play a major role in human coexistence and are certainly appreciated. However, they are rather atypical for extraordinary personalities such as conductors. Whatever the general public’s notion of a conductor may be, Herbert Blomstedt is an exception, precisely because he possesses those very qualities which seemingly have so little to do with a conductor's claim to power. That he disproves the usual clichés in many respects should certainly not lead to the assumption that he does not have the power to assert his clearly defined musical goals. Anyone who has attended Herbert Blomstedt’s rehearsals and experienced his concentration on the essence of the music, the precision in the phrasing of musical facts and circumstances as they appear in the score, the tenacity regarding the implementation of an aesthetic view, is likely to have been amazed at how few despotic measures were required to this end. Basically, Herbert Blomstedt has always represented that type of artist whose professional competence and natural authority make all external emphasis superfluous. His work as a conductor is inseparably linked to his religious and human ethos, and his interpretations combine great faithfulness to the score and analytical precision, with a soulfulness that awakens the music to pulsating life. In the more than sixty years of his career, he has acquired the unrestricted respect of the musical world.

Born in the USA to Swedish parents and educated in Uppsala, New York, Darmstadt and Basel, Herbert Blomstedt gave his conducting debut in 1954 with the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and subsequently served as Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic, the Swedish and Danish Radio Orchestras and the Staatskapelle Dresden. Later, he became Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony, Chief Conductor of the NDR Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig. His former orchestras in San Francisco, Leipzig, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Dresden as well as the Bamberg Symphony and the NHK Symphony Orchestra all honoured him with the title of Conductor Laureate. Since 2019, he is a Honorary Member of the Vienna Philharmonic.

Herbert Blomstedt holds several Honorary Doctorates, is an elected member of the Royal Swedish Music Academy and was awarded the German Federal Cross of Merit. Over the years, all leading orchestras around the globe have been fortunate to secure the services of the highly respected Swedish conductor. Celebrating his 95th birthday in July 2022, he continues to be at the helm of all leading international orchestras with enormous mental and physical presence, verve and artistic drive.

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