Mozart the way I want to hear it

I am a fan of Christoph von Dohnányi. I would describe him as a gestalt conductor, meaning he sees the big picture of a work. Last season he conducted Mahler's second symphony just the way I wanted to hear it: clear-sighted, without any jarring eccentricities to break the momentum. Dohnányi has been back in town for two weeks as guest conductor with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The program of his first week featured the music of Mozart and Richard Strauss.

What struck me in his reading of Mozart's Symphony no. 35 was that the conductor observed all of the written repeat signs. Many recordings made during the LP era omitted repeats in the closing section of each movement, perhaps due to the time constraints of an LP side, but also for fear of wearing out the listener's ear with too much of the same. The form of a Mozart menuetto movement in typical performance practice is AABB-CCDD-AB, but Dohnányi took the repeats in the Da Capo (from the top) for the longer AABB-CCDD-AABB.

The main reason to observe all of the repeats in a classical symphony is because the composer put them there, but there is a structural purpose. The A-section lays out the musical argument; a repeat of that section reinforces the themes and tonality of the work. In the B-section the composer expands the scope, often exploring remote harmonies. The results can be funky, disorienting or unsettling, but the composer safely guides us back to the home key. A subsequent repeat of the B-section shakes that false sense of security and raises our alert for the digressions ahead.

The second week of concerts was all Mozart – his last three symphonies: nos. 39 in E flat, 40 in G minor and 41 in C, "Jupiter". Maestro Dohnányi observed almost all of the repeats, omitting only those in the very longest sections. Perhaps my budget score from the library didn't reflect the latest scholarship; perhaps the conductor felt that Mozart had brought his ideas to a satisfactory conclusion; most likely it was to keep the concert under a time limit and avoid crippling overtime fees from the musicians' union. Even so, it was Mozart the way I want to hear it.

Case in point, the second movement of Symphony no. 41, Andante cantabile (a singing stroll). The tempo is a slow three beats to the bar, but each beat gets subdivided in various ways: sometimes two notes per beat, sometimes three or four or six or eight. Many conductors get so focused on the filigree of 24-to-the-bar that they lose the underlying propulsion. Dohnányi kept the quickest notes spinning so that there was always a coherent master pulse to the movement.

There are many delights in Mozart's last symphonies, regardless of who is conducting them. The second movement of Symphony no. 39 starts with a two-minute AABB section for the strings.

An uncomplicated little melody skips along in A flat major; a raised note in the seventh measure adds a sunny smile before the first repeat. The B-section starts climbing higher and higher, then hops around until it settles back down to the original melody. But then the second violin sneaks in a lowered note, darkening the mood to A flat minor. The cloud soon passes and all seems well, but now there is a slight question mark of uncertainty. It is a simple and magical touch, and I would feel deprived if the section were not repeated. Matters get more turbulent when the winds start blowing in the extended C-section.

Symphony no. 40 opens with one of Mozart's most recognizable melodies. Here is a graphic animation of the score. The form is AAB – watch for the repeat at 2:00. Enjoy!