Sir Adrian Boult Conducts Mozart

The English conductor Sir Adrian Boult (1889-1983) was typecast as a specialist in the works of his home country, but he had vast experience in all kinds of music. After all, he had been conductor of the BBC Symphony and London Philharmonic for long periods.

In actuality, Boult did record quite a bit of non-English music, much of it in his early years with the BBC. And later on, he added to those recordings through his association with smaller recording companies such as Nixa/Westminster, Everest and Miller International.

Sir Adrian Boult

As he moved into the twilight of his career, EMI engaged him for a number of discs of non-English music. I am fond of his series of Wagner overtures, among other performances - and this particular record of Mozart symphonies is worth hearing as well.

In recording the 35th and 41st symphonies for HMV in 1974-75, Boult was returning to two works he had taken to the recording studio before - the Haffner for Concert Hall in 1959, and the Jupiter for HMV as far back as 1933. These later efforts are with the London Philharmonic, and come from Abbey Road Studio No. 1.

Writing in The Gramophone, Trevor Harvey contrasted Boult's handling on Symphony No. 41 with No. 35: "Sir Adrian takes a very big view of the Jupiter, even of its length, for he observes every single repeat - yes, even that in the slow movement" and "If Sir Adrian takes a big view of the Jupiter he seems intent on pointing the difference between it and the Haffner, which gets a swift and lightweight performance (even the slow movement) and in this Symphony he makes no repeats except, obviously, in the Minuet movement."

Harvey takes issue with the orchestral balances and recording, both of which strike me as perfectly fine. This is a good record, little noticed at the time, and not even released here in the US, to my knowledge. My transfer is from the English pressing.

Sir Adrian was 85 and 86 when he led these performances, and was not nearly done in the studio. In addition to English music, yet to come would be recordings of works by Wagner, Strauss, Beethoven and Brahms. He devoted his concluding session in 1978 to Sir Hubert Parry's fifth symphony, a favorite of the conductor.

This transfer is by request.