Increasing ecological awareness has had an interesting side effect: classical recording companies are taking the opportunity to squeeze one more go-round out of warhorse catalog items by reissuing them in "green" packaging. The performances here date back as far as 1958, but at least the producers haven't done things completely on the cheap; there's a little insert with a tracklist and a brief but appropriate little essay about Mozart. With a few exceptions, these are all hits and all strong performances even if distinctly ...
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Increasing ecological awareness has had an interesting side effect: classical recording companies are taking the opportunity to squeeze one more go-round out of warhorse catalog items by reissuing them in "green" packaging. The performances here date back as far as 1958, but at least the producers haven't done things completely on the cheap; there's a little insert with a tracklist and a brief but appropriate little essay about Mozart. With a few exceptions, these are all hits and all strong performances even if distinctly oversized by present-day standards. The "hits" aspect is the weaker of the two, for the chamber selections are very odd. There are no string quartets, and it would be hard to find even a devoted Mozartian who would consider the Divertimento in D major, K. 251 (the "Nannerl Septet"), one of Mozart's greatest hits. The orchestral selections are all well known, however, and there's even a certain pleasure in hearing the varied takes of the great conductors of the third quarter of the...
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