Why do people like the Haffner? It's boring. Do I have a bad recording? It's a Bohm.

I assume you mean the Haffner symphony, not the Haffner serenade. I don't know what you like in the way of pre-Beethoven symphonies. There are some people who just don't like 18th century symphonies very much, and if they like just a few of them, they're more likely to like Mozart 38-41 than Haffner. I personally find the 4th movement to be pretty ordinary, but I like the other 3 movements.

There probably are better options than Bohm for this work. Some highly regarded preformances include Szell, Glover, Saraste, Karajan, Mackerras, and Wordsworth.

Yeah, I'm a pretty solid fan of 38-41. I guess I've liked the Haffner symphony on more casual listens but the more I pay attention to it the less I like it. I'll look at some of those recordings you mention though to be sure.

I hope you find a performance of it that you like.

Do you like any of Haydn's symphonies?

Went to see Marriage of Figaro last night by the Kentucky Opera. Very surreal (though rewarding) experience.

My thoughts:

- The opera itself was a delight; I had never seen it performed live before and I really enjoyed
- The singer were remarkably talented as both vocalists and actors, the latter of which was a huge relief
- However, since the Louisville Orchestra musicians are on strike, the performance had to be performed using only rehearsal pianists (two of them playing on two separate pianos at once)
- Despite the slightly diminished sound as a result of having only pianos to provide the music, the opera was still pulled off in an enjoyable (though not entirely authentic) manner.

I just found time to sit down and check out Mozart's last three symphonies for the first time. Never really listened to much Mozart, I guess the hype just didn't live up to the music I'd heard up to that point, with a few exceptions.

This is good shit, tho. When I heard the first movement of the 40th, I thought: "So that's where it's from!"

Gotta love those moments.

I haven't heard any of Mozart's other symphonies, at least not full ones, but I think I'm gonna check out some of his other recommended symphonies before I start immersing myself in his other music. I'm still totally into Beethoven, wanting to explore all the various versions of his symphonies, and of course all his other works. Then there's Bach, Chopin, Brahms, Mahler, Haydn, Schubert...

Mozart's last 3 symphonies are great, and I would also highly recommend the last one he wrote before them, No. 38. He wrote other good symphonies too, most notably Nos. 29, 35 & 36, but there's so much great Mozart to listen to that I would suggest listening to some of his non-symphonic work before listening to any symphonies prior to his last four. To start with, I would think that almost anyone who likes his late symphonies would also like his late piano concertos, most especially Nos. 20, 21, 23 & 24.

Thanks! I'll do just that. Also got his violin concertos, so I've got plenty to dig into.

One other piece you might want to check out, especially if you like some of the violin concertos, is Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola, K. 364. It's basically a concerto with 2 lead instruments, and written 4 years later than the violin concertos, is a more mature work. The last 3 violin concertos, however, are among the greatest things he wrote at such an early age.

Another cool "so that's where it's from" moment is in the 3rd movement of his 22nd Piano Concerto.