Mendelssohn - Sym No 3 & Sym No 4 - Franz Welser-Most, London PO - 1992

Franz Welser-Möst (born 16 August 1960) is an Austrian conductor. As Franz Leopold Maria Möst he was born in Linz, Austria, on 16 August 1960. As a youth in Linz, he studied the violin and had developed an interest in conducting. After suffering injuries in a car crash that led to nerve damage, he stopped his violin studies and shifted full-time to conducting studies.



In 1985, Möst assumed the stage name Welser-Möst on suggestion of his mentor, Baron Andreas von Bennigsen of Liechtenstein, thus paying homage to the city of Wels where he grew up. In 1986, he was adopted by von Bennigsen. In 1992, Welser-Möst married von Bennigsen's former wife, Angelika.

His first major debuts were at the Salzburg Festival in 1985, followed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1986 and the Orchester Musikkollegium Winterthur in 1988. Other guest conductor appearances comprised the first five years of his career: his American debut with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra in 1989, performances with the orchestras of Atlanta, Boston, New York, Chicago, plus frequent returns to the London Philharmonic. In 1990, Welser-Möst became principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. His LPO tenure was controversial, with London critics giving him the nickname "Frankly Worse than Most". He concluded his LPO tenure in 1996.

Welser-Möst is currently the music director for the Cleveland Orchestra and the Vienna State Opera.

Edward Greenfield in Gramophone in Nov 1992 stated: "Those reservations need hardly weigh at all for anyone who wants beautifully played and recorded accounts of this favourite coupling, with rhythms nicely sprung at speeds very sympathetically chosen, never too hectic in movements that tend to attract the speed-merchants—the first movement of the Italian and the finales of both symphonies. By contrast Welser-Most keeps the Adagio of the Scottish flowing at a speed faster than usual, avoiding sentimentality and making it more freshly song-like in its lyricism."

So, there you go. These lively Mendelssohn symphony performances come from Oct 1991 and Feb 1992.