greg@oliven.UUCP (Greg Paley) (02/20/85)
With the appearance of most of Bruno Walter's stereo recordings on CD, I have no doubt that his late Mozart symphonies made in stereo (late 50's or early 60's) with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra will reappear, if they haven't already. I can't recommend these recordings, having listened to them in their Columbia LP release. As Walter got older a tendency he always had to linger over beautiful moments, sometimes to the point of bringing the music to a grinding halt, got progressively worse. I hear it in most of his post World War II recordings, the exceptions being the 1952 Vienna "Das Lied von der Erde", the 1954 Mozart Requiem, and the 1957 Mahler "Resurrection" symphony. The Mozart symphonies show this tendency at its worse. Outstanding, however, if you can take very dated sound, are the recordings of Mozart symphonies Walter recorded in the late 30's. In these, the beauty and expressiveness is maintained within a coherent framework that doesn't impede the flow of the music. They are available on Japanese EMI pressings. - Greg Paley