Mozart set to a cracking tempo

Jérémie Rhorer and Le Cercle de l’Harmoniecranks up the pace with Mozart's Symphonies Nos 25, 26 & 29 with mixed results

Composer: Mozart
Repertoire: Symphonies Nos 25, 26 & 29 
Artists: Le Cercle de l’Harmonie/Jérémie Rhorer
Rating:  3/5
Genre: Orchestra
Label: Virgin Classics 234 8682

The unfamiliar work here – to me, anyway – is No.26, K184, which actually predates No.25. Its three movements are continuous, the second leading into the third without a break. Rhorer sets a cracking tempo for the opening Molto presto, which his players have no difficulty in following. No.25, the ‘little G minor’, goes splendidly, with braying horns. The Minuet is a particular delight, with its sharp accents and, in the relaxed Trio section, a feeling of bucolic enjoyment. But No.29 is eccentric: inconsistent and fiddly phrasing in the first movement, and a grotesque diminuendo at the last appearance of the violins’ rising scale in the finale.