Mozart piano sonatas

[Omicron9]

I liked it for a few years when it was my only 'modern' set other than Klien on Vox. I like Eschenbach's playing, and the sound was good. I got that DG "Collector's Edition" box when it was a brand new release. Don't know what is out there today.

Thank you!

[Omicron9]

I had posted earlier that Eschenbach was my first set, on LP, and I wore it out.  At the time it was the only one I had heard and liked it alot.  It is still one I listen to, but there are better complete sets.

Thank you!

[George]

Any recommendations/warnings for Eschenbach on DG?

I like what I have heard of his set (about three discs), enough so that if I was going to buy another, his would be it.

[Que]

On topic: I love Mozart, but his piano sonatas do not interest me as much as, f.i. his piano concertos, or string quartets/quintets, or opera's.
I should listen to more fortepiano stuff, I guess, because I only know Bart van Oort, whose cycle I like btw.
Other favourites are Pires (Denon/Brilliant preferably), Zacharias (EMI) and Engel (Teldec).

Amen to that.... 

Q

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Any examples?

Outside of piano there was Julian Bream on the lute, playing it as if it were a guitar (in fact his lute was hardly a traditional lute anyway). To me, even though it is wonderful music making, it seems either a bit fraudulent, a gimmick, or trying to capitalise off the popularity of historical performance practice without really making an effort to research and understand it.

[prémont]

I should listen to more fortepiano stuff, I guess, because I only know Bart van Oort, whose cycle I like btw.
Other favourites are Pires (Denon/Brilliant preferably),

AMEN from me too.

[amw]

Oort is definitely quite solid as a complete set. Other fortepiano recs apart from Bezuidenhout, Levin, Schiff, Immerseel & PBS mentioned above: Malcolm Bilson and Linda Nicholson. (I have never heard Lubimov or Brautigam.)

Re the Eschenbach set: I disliked it, but now don't remember why. Actually I don't remember anything about it to be honest. May just have found it boring >.>

[Omicron9]

Any thoughts on the Bezuidenhout set on Harmonia Mundi?  Sadly, I don't think it's available as a box set, which makes it near-prohibitively expensive.  Still, curious on opinions.  What little of it I've heard (the Vol. 4 disk), I like quite a lot.

-09

[king ubu]

Any thoughts on the Bezuidenhout set on Harmonia Mundi?  Sadly, I don't think it's available as a box set, which makes it near-prohibitively expensive.  Still, curious on opinions.  What little of it I've heard (the Vol. 4 disk), I like quite a lot.

-09

It's gorgeous and elegant ... and outstanding.

In my book a fine counterpart for the fortright and sometimes almost harsh Rampe.

Other favourites:

Gould
Pires (Denon, but DG ain't half bad)
Kraus (Erato)

Further mention:

de Larrocha
Say (not so sure yet ... may grow)
Gulda

[Spineur]

I also like Brendel in Mozart sonatas.  He never fully completed rhe cycle nor were his cds edited in a box.  He brings out a slightly darker Mozart, less serene with more anxiety.

I dont reach for it as often as other sets, but I like it nevertheless.

[Omicron9]

It's gorgeous and elegant ... and outstanding.

In my book a fine counterpart for the fortright and sometimes almost harsh Rampe.

Other favourites:

Gould
Pires (Denon, but DG ain't half bad)
Kraus (Erato)

Further mention:

de Larrocha
Say (not so sure yet ... may grow)
Gulda

Thank you; much appreciated!

[king ubu]

Thank you; much appreciated!

And I forgot one more HIP one that I like: Malcolm Bilson - guess he's somewhere in between Rampe and Bezuidenhout. Either way, all three have their own view of things and they can stand next to each other without problems.

As for why I like those cycles ... all too often not quite sure myself, but I liked the above explanation for Gould: because nobody else does it like he does it (and I guess you could add: there's nothing else in music that quite compares).

[amw]

Bezuidenhout is very stylish and urbane—"concert" Mozart, for a large and appreciative audience. He traverses all the keyboard works not just sonatas, as well, which reveals lots of very high quality music often left out of complete sets. The closest comparison among modern instrument performers would be Claudio Arrau (M&A) or Vladimir Horowitz.

(brainfart: definitely not Schiff)

[George]

It's gorgeous and elegant ... and outstanding.

In my book a fine counterpart for the fortright and sometimes almost harsh Rampe.

Other favourites:

Gould
Pires (Denon, but DG ain't half bad)
Kraus (Erato)

Further mention:

de Larrocha
Say (not so sure yet ... may grow)
Gulda

Since this is the "your preference and why" thread, can I ask for the why on Gould's Mozart sonatas?

[San Antone]

Since this is the "your preference and why" thread, can I ask for the why on Gould's Mozart sonatas?

I was wondering the same thing ...

[king ubu]

Well, it's just sublime music making in my ears. No further explanations needed ... and no, I don't care if he's being just to the text or anything, when the result is that good.

[amw]

I wasn't asked but I'll mention the good things about Gould's Mozart sonatas: they bring out Mozart's deep roots in the style and pacing of comic opera, and a purity from Romantic pianistic accretions that makes all other performances sound faintly Chopinised. I think the live sonatas (on Music & Arts) are generally superior to the studio recordings, which I don't think much of mostly because I don't think much of Gould's measured trills and arpeggios or his tendency to play accompanying figures louder than the melody, none of which are historically accurate. That said I still don't listen to the live sonatas much except as a palate cleanser.

[San Antone]

Well, it's just sublime music making in my ears. No further explanations needed ...

Gould's Mozart recordings are the only ones I cannot tolerate.  His performance is an assault on the music. 

[Omicron9]

Gould's Mozart recordings are the only ones I cannot tolerate.  His performance is an assault on the music.

What little of Gould's Mozart I've heard strikes me as too cute, for lack of a better word.  Cutesy and reductionist to the point of sing-song-y, if that makes any sense.  But that's just one person's opinion.

[Omicron9]

Also: I had originally specified recording cycles on modern pianos, but will open that up to PF recordings as well. 

Again, many thanks.

-09