A bit of mozart magic nikolaus harnoncourt’s visits to salzburg are the focus of this rather fascinating new release

ARCHIVE CHOICE

Nikolaus Harnoncourt Debut

Mozart: Die Zauberflöte – Overture; Symphony in C major, K338; Oboe Concerto in C major, K314*; Symphony in D major ‘Haffner’

*Werner Herbers (oboe); Concertgebouworkest Amsterdam/Nikolaus Harnoncourt et al Belvedere BVE08071 185:29 mins (3 discs)

When Nikolaus Harnoncourt died in 2016, among the tributes was a startling admission from the Salzburg Festival that Herbert von Karajan had insisted Harnoncourt didn’t appear there while Karajan was still alive. But Harnoncourt made his Salzburg debut with the Concertgebouw Orchestra at ‘Mozart Week’ in 1980, and that’s the concert released here. There’s characteristic tautness and discipline in the Magic Flute Overture, Symphony No. 34 and Oboe Concerto, but you can tell the players are still feeling their way into Harnoncourt’s bracing period style, a tension that makes the ‘Haffner’ Symphony even more thrilling. By 2006, Harnoncourt was firmly established as Artist-in-Residence for Mozart’s 250th anniversary year, and the two bonus CDs allow us to eavesdrop on Harnoncourt in open rehearsal with Camerata Salzburg in the G minor Symphony No. 40. Even non-German speakers can appreciate how well Harnoncourt works with the players (and audience), and moulds the performance with wit and insight. Bookends of a fascinating journey in historically informed performance in Salzburg. ★★★★

January round-up

Born in 1890, Canadian violinist

Kathleen Parlow was just 14 when she became the first foreign student at the St Petersburg Conservatory. She stepped back as a soloist in the late 1920s, celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic, but exhausted by relentless touring, and most of these recordings are from her early years. Despite the limitations of acoustic recording, it’s impossible not to be impressed by Parlow’s virtuosity, her sweet tone and fluid phrasing. The recordings date from 1909-1916, mostly miniatures, plus later broadcast recordings of the Mendelssohn Concerto and solo Bach. A Parlow collection that’s overdue. (Biddulph 85036-2) ★★★★ Marie Antoinette had a harp in her luggage when she arrived at the French court in 1770, and she made it fashionable at Versailles, inspiring a golden age when young society women played the harp, Paris had hundreds of harp shops and composers wrote delightful music like this. For L