Mozart: The Jupiter Project (Hyperion)

★★★★☆
🎧 Apple Music | Amazon | Hyperion

In an age when the majors pump out stars and brands, boutique labels are free to indulge in the cranky, the batty and the frankly off-the-wall. Which self-respecting woke person, for instance, would pay to hear Mozart’s major orchestral works shrunk to fit a Brooklyn or Lewisham bedsit? Mozart reduced to pocket-size by his principal rivals Hummel, Cramer and Clementi — do we really need that?

Actually, yes, yes, yes! It is totally thrilling to hear the C-major piano concerto K467 played by piano, flute, violin and cello… like a digital scan of Mozart’s mind working at full speed without bothering to fill in all those useless orchestral lines. Pocket-sized overtures to Magic Flute and Marriage of Figaro I can take or leave, but Clementi’s takedown of the Jupiter Symphony is utterly essential listening, replete with hints of where Mozart might have gone if he’d only lasted a little longer.

The album is the brainchild of scholar-pianist David Owen Norris, who plays a skittish 1826 Broadwood and tries to imagine how Mozart went down in London drawing-rooms around that time. Caroline Balding and Andrew Skidmore cover all the string parts and Katy Bircher is a more-than magical flute. Just listen.

To read more from Norman Lebrecht, follow him on Slippedisc.com.

LUDWIG VAN TORONTO

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• Author
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Norman Lebrecht

Norman Lebrecht is one of the most widely-read commentators on music, culture and cultural politics. He is a regular presenter on BBC Radio 3 and a contributor to the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Standpoint, Sinfini and other publications. His blog, Slipped Disc, is among the most widely read cultural sites online, breaking exclusive stories and campaigning against human abuse and acts of injustice in the cultural industries.

Latest posts by Norman Lebrecht (see all)

• LEBRECHT LISTENS | Hans Werner Henze And The Unwritten 10 Year Law - December 3, 2021
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• Author
• Recent Posts

Norman Lebrecht

Norman Lebrecht is one of the most widely-read commentators on music, culture and cultural politics. He is a regular presenter on BBC Radio 3 and a contributor to the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Standpoint, Sinfini and other publications. His blog, Slipped Disc, is among the most widely read cultural sites online, breaking exclusive stories and campaigning against human abuse and acts of injustice in the cultural industries.

Latest posts by Norman Lebrecht (see all)

• LEBRECHT LISTENS | Hans Werner Henze And The Unwritten 10 Year Law - December 3, 2021
• LEBRECHT LISTENS | Restorative Brahms From One Of The Best Orchestras In America - November 26, 2021
• LEBRECHT LISTENS | The 56 Day Recording Project That Kept Renaud Capuçon Going - November 19, 2021