DXLV. MOZART, Wolfgang Amadeus: Symphony #31 in D Major, K. 297

DXLV. MOZART, Wolfgang Amadeus (1756-1791)

Symphony #31 in D Major, K. 297 (1778)
1. Allegro assai
2. Andante
3. Allegro
Vienna Philharmonic
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, cond.
(18:43)

Four years have passed since yesterday's entry. Given the sobriquet "Paris," it must be seen as ironic, since Mozart was in the French capital to get a job -- he had no success.

Nevertheless, this is a magnificent work, perhaps to be considered the first of the final eleven symphonies, composed in the following 13 years.

It is a large orchestra for its time (eight winds, four brass, timpani and strings), including Mozart's first use of clarinets in the form.

First movement

Mozart's musical materials here are more motivic than melodic -- the ascending D Major scale (Mannheim rocket), the little triadic slips down -- but his mastery of said materials renders up a wonderful noise:

an example: here he momentarily slips into A minor:

and this call-and-response between winds and strings:

Development: he slips into F Major, ever so slyly:

Second movement

A calm 6/8. (Mozart composed another second movement a few months later -- we hear from one reviewer that the original "failed to please." This seems to be the original movement.)

Third movement

This syncopated 1/2-note--1/4-note rhythm seems strange even after we land on our feet!

This progression of whole-notes prefigures the "Jupiter" symphony (#41) ...