The Chamber Orchestra of Europe had already published a tribute box set to conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt consisting of previously unreleased concerts. It was a complete of Schubert’s symphonies that surpassed his official completes. Here is a disparate box set with Mozart symphony CDs (notoh 29 Posthorn Serenade), Haydn (notbone 100 and 101),
Beethoven (notbone 5 and 7) and Brahms (notoh 4, Tragic Overture). The Haydn CD is the absolute “highlight of the set”, followed by the 29and of Mozart with a superior articulation intelligence, unfortunately captured in a rather reverberant way. Brahms and Beethoven are excellent, but a little more crushed in terms of musical eloquence, the stigma of a release by another orchestra: “Les adieux d’Harnoncourt à Zurich”, a 2011 concert combining the Great Partita of Mozart and the 5and Symphonyby Beethoven (Prospero, 2 CDs, Pro020) which is aimed above all at collectors and admirers. The ICA box is for the general public with a breathless and always fascinating musical approach which was also the Schubert prize.
To see in video