Music and Vinyl: Mozart - Symphony No.40

Symphony No.40 (K550 in g-minor) is one of only two symphonies that Mozart wrote in a minor key, and it dates from 1788 - three years before his death aged 35.

The symphony is one of Mozart's most performed and regarded works, and has been called a work of passion violence and grief. It has been much studied and analysed, and has been part of the Music Syllabus for British GSCE school exams - as this interesting revision guide from the BBC "Bitesize" website shows.

Otmar Suitner

The recording here is from the East German ETERNA label in a splendid reissue by Berlin Classics. As the notes included with this reissue (see below) show, ETERNA releases brought in much needed foreign currency to the state owned enterprise (VEB Deutsche Schallplatten) of which ETERNA was a part.

The Berlin Classics reissue has a gatefold presentation with insert and an internal record sleeve which is a facsimile of the original issue which is a nice touch.

Conductor Otmar Suitner (1922-2010) was an Austrian conductor who spent most of his professional career in East Germany. He was principal conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden orchestra from 1960 to 1964 and taught at the Mozarteum in Salzburg for twenty years.