Photo, Chris Christodoulou (photo taken on September 8, at the Vienna Philharmonic’s Prom on that date)
Tuesday, September 9, 2025
Royal Albert Hall, London
You can’t go wrong with the Vienna Philharmonic playing Mozart and this account of the ‘Prague’ – my desert-island Mozart Symphony (No.38; K504) – was no exception, Franz Welser-Möst leading an account of this three-movement work (no Minuet) that was unrushed and articulate, the first movement especially, following a pregnant Adagio introduction. The succeeding Andante perhaps pressed ahead slightly too much, and shorter grace-notes would have been preferable, while the comic-opera Finale bubbled along infectiously. First-time repeats were observed, and also the second-half repetition in the Finale.
There’s been enough evidence over the years to suggest Welser-Möst tends to distance himself from music’s most-emotional creations, preferring a directly musical approach. Thus this Tchaikovsky Six was structurally wholesome, albeit the second subject was abruptly introduced and not lingered over, although the succeeding stormy section, heralded by a thunderclap, did build to an impassioned high. The 5/4 second movement was elegantly turned, the middle section introducing darker clouds without the need for manipulating tempo. The following march was somewhat jaunty, neither Bernstein-massive nor Mravinsky-rapid, building though to something lacking the last degree of defiance … no clapping, no room … for Welser-Möst went straight into the Adagio lamentoso final movement, patricianly phrased, unsentimental, dry-eyed, the gong-stroke inaudible over the airwaves. Rather forgettable, I’m afraid, except for the odd mishap, less than pristine trumpets in the first movement, for example – sometimes it’s the smallest things that stay in the mind.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002hx6y