Symphony No.40 in G minor, K.550 / Symphony No.41 in C, K.551-Jupiter

MARBECKS STAFF RECORDING OF THE YEAR 2006

Following the success of his acclaimed Rameau album Une symphonie imaginaire – a release that even made its way into French pop charts – Marc Minkowski and his fabulous Musiciens du Louvre tackle two landmarks of symphonic repertoire.

In this, his debut Mozart recording, Minkowski upholds his reputation as one of the most progressive and innovative Mozart conductors of our time. Minkowski was acclaimed for his reading of Mozart's early opera Mitridate at the 2005 Salzburg Festival, "a musical event with compelling repercussions" (Neue Zürcher Zeitung).

On this album, Mozart's two last symphonies are coupled with the final ballet scene from Idomeneo, and Minkowski's approach to Mozart promises to be one of the most surprising and musically enlightening events of Mozart Forever 2006. Minkowski separates these masterworks from 200 years of performance practice to reveal their original fire and drama – this is Mozart as you've never heard him before.

"Mozart's late G minor has seldom been deciphered with such revolutionary zeal, such wild delight in motion, such passion in bringing out bold strokes of melody and harmony, or such churning drama. French conductor Marc Minkowski... showed what underlying daemonic forces went into this work of Mozart's..." (Süddeutsche Zeitung)