Mozart Symphony no 20

 Day 15

Mozart Symphony no 20 in D K133

The English Consort

Trevor Pinnock

The last three Mozart symphonies are of course key works in the repertoire. There are perhaps a further half dozen or so of his symphonies which are well know but I suspect that for most people, including me, much of the rest is practically unknown. So I decided to explore these earlier symphonies by selecting one at random. Whether by luck or otherwise I don't know but I certainly found a winner.

No 20 dates from 1772 when he was would have been 16. It is a delightful work full of energy and invention. The orchestra includes two trumpets as well as the usual pairs of oboes and horns and this certainly gives a brighter texture, right from the start. The slow movement is a lovely example of Mozart writing in the 'style gallant' where, for this movement only, a flute joins the strings. My assumption when listening to this was that one of the oboists would have taken the flute for this movement - something I was pleased to note was also suggested in the commentary in Neal Zaslaw's masterly book on Mozart's Symphonies. The minuet is relatively conventional but the trio is fascinating with some interesting cross rhythms and syncopations. The last movement is an energetic tarantella. 

There is one very odd bar in the first movement (bar 161) where the second oboe is suddenly exposed playing a D major scale after everybody else has finished their scales. Had I heard this live I might have thought that the oboist had lost his/her place but it is very clearly marked in the score. Was it meant to be a Haydnesque joke - if so it doesn't come off. I looked up what Zaslaw had written about this piece after I had heard it I saw that he was similarly troubled by the passage. He is bolder than I would have been and calls it 'a rare instance of failed artistic judgement on Mozart's part'.  Even Homer nods!

In this performance by Trevor Pinnock the repeats were observed in the return of the minuet after the trio. Nowadays the convention is not to take the repeats when the minuet returns but I don't think that there is historical evidence to suggest that in Mozart's time this modern practice was the norm. Certainly Hogwood in his pioneering set of Mozart symphonies did all of the repeats.  I suspect that it is when minuet and trio movements became longer that people started to omit the repeats. I need to do some more research.

There is bound to be more Mozart in this series.  I treated myself to the big box of Mozart's complete works on CD a few years ago and there are many many CDs there that have not yet been played. I suspect that later in the year I will investigate one of the early operas.