Mozart, Symphony No.35 in D major, K. 385 “Haffner”

Filmed mainly in Vienna's splendid "Musikvereinssaal," the Mozart symphonies conducted by Karl Böhm are all interpreted by one of the world's foremost orchestras, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, whose principal conductors have included Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Herbert von Karajan, Claudio Abbado and, of course, Karl Böhm. "Thanks to Bruno Walter's exemplary performances, particularly of Mozart's works, I grabbed on to Mozart and fell in love with him so much that I had only one wish: to conduct Mozart, Mozart, Mozart." (Karl Böhm) "I will have to give up my nights to it," wrote Mozart to his father in 1782 upon learning of an important new commission: to write a serenade for the ennoblement of Mayor Sigismund Haffner of Salzburg. Away at last from Salzburg, having just achieved success in Vienna with his "Entführung aus dem Serail," and about to marry Constanze, Mozart must have been in an effervescent mood. Some of his good spirits obviously went into the serenade, which he transformed a year later into a four-movement symphony for a concert at the Burgtheater in Vienna, which was attended by the Emperor. Although Mozart wrote that "the first Allegro must be done with great fire, and the last should go as fast as possible," he might have reconsidered his words had he been familiar with the demonic tempi of some 20th-century conductors! Karl Böhm was universally acclaimed for his Mozart interpretations. Though Wagner was one of Böhm's first loves, his friendship with Richard Strauss led to a deep knowledge and appreciation of Mozart. In his autobiography, Böhm wrote that "Richard Strauss revealed to me the ultimate secrets of this, in my opinion, greatest of all musical geniuses, Mozart." Böhm's discovery of these secrets transformed his Mozart interpretations into unforgettable events.