Mozart - Clarinet Concerto, Symphony no 25 (1987)

Composed in 1791 just two months before his death, the Clarinet Concerto was Mozart's last completed symphonic work. Written for his lodge brother Anton Stadler while also working on the Requiem, it is generally considered to be the greatest concerto ever written for a wind instrument. The Symphony no. 25 used to be called the "little g minor" to distinguish it from the well-known 40th symphony in the same key, but this product of the 17-year-old Wolfgang has become nearly as famous thanks to the use of its turbulent first movement at the beginning of the movie AMADEUS. Both of these performances were recorded live in Vienna: the concerto at the Konzerthaus in September 1987, the symphony at the Grosser Musikvereinsaal in October 1988. Bernstein recorded several Mozart works in the years just before his death in 1990; critics had generally been unkind to his earlier Mozart recordings, calling them heavy-handed and unidiomatic, but these late-blooming performances earned praise for their unexpected energy, lightness of touch, and autumnal glow.