Mozart piano sonatas

Started by Mark, September 20, 2007, 05:16:34 AM

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tr. pianist

I am like many here who like Uchida performance of Mozart piano sonatas.

I don't like Mozart piano sonatas as I like Haydn's. His phantasias are good. Some of the sonatas are fine too.
On the whole he was not as inventive in his sonatas as in music for other instruments.

I liked his sonatas while I was studying, but then I lost interest in them though I love Mosart very much.

Bunny

Richard Goode does very well with the Mozart Sonatas, and his recordings are well worth trying.


val

To me, the version of Leon McCawley, in a 5 CD set, recorded in 2006, is the best. A perfect synthesis between the sense of the line, the structure, and a expressiveness (never exaggerated). It includes other pieces, such as the Rondo K 511, the Adagio K 540. McCawley reminds me of Haskil, but more powerful.

Que

#43
Quote from: val on November 14, 2008, 01:18:39 AM
To me, the version of Leon McCawley, in a 5 CD set, recorded in 2006, is the best. A perfect synthesis between the sense of the line, the structure, and a expressiveness (never exaggerated). It includes other pieces, such as the Rondo K 511, the Adagio K 540. McCawley reminds me of Haskil, but more powerful.

Interesting, also mentioned by traverso, who knows his Mozart:
Note the opening line though... HIP has an definite inevitability in Mozart's piano sonatas IMO. (Brautigam, for example)

Quote from: traverso on September 22, 2007, 08:24:02 AM
Leaving HIP aside, I recently got the new Leon McCawley (Avie) set and it has
plenty of immaculate playing.  Great sound for the modern piano, too :D

And HIP or no HIP, I fail to see the attractions of Uchida: languid, polished and Romanticized. Rather give me Pires' characterful first take on Denon, which used to be available as a reissue on Brilliant.

Q

Harry

Quote from: Que on November 14, 2008, 02:13:39 AM

And HIP or no HIP, I fail to see the attractions of Uchida: languid, polished and Romantised. Rather give me Pires' characterful first take on Denon, which used to be available as a reissue on Brilliant.

Q

I totally agree with this!

The new erato

I used to find Mozarts piano sonatas boring until I heard Uchida. Maybe a little romance was all they needed. But granted, this is not a field of particular interest to me, so I might well be missing something. Sooner or later, I guess I'll try Brautigam.

Dancing Divertimentian

Quote from: Que on November 14, 2008, 02:13:39 AM
And HIP or no HIP, I fail to see the attractions of Uchida: languid, polished and Romanticized. Rather give me Pires' characterful first take on Denon, which used to be available as a reissue on Brilliant.

I feel that's a little unduly harsh. To me Uchida is fresh, vital, and colorful.

And it's certainly not blind faith that keeps me coming back to her - I've tried so many others I've lost count. But I always come back to Uchida.

(Sorry, fellow Kletzki club member ;D)


Veit Bach-a baker who found his greatest pleasure in a little cittern which he took with him even into the mill and played while the grinding was going on. In this way he had a chance to have the rhythm drilled into him. And this was the beginning of a musical inclination in his descendants. JS Bach

Que

Quote from: donwyn on November 14, 2008, 06:44:32 AM
I feel that's a little unduly harsh. To me Uchida is fresh, vital, and colorful.

And it's certainly not blind faith that keeps me coming back to her - I've tried so many others I've lost count. But I always come back to Uchida.

(Sorry, fellow Kletzki club member ;D)

OK  ;D

I'm sure or at least hope that she won't take it personal.

Q

Bulldog

Quote from: donwyn on November 14, 2008, 06:44:32 AM
I feel that's a little unduly harsh. To me Uchida is fresh, vital, and colorful.

And it's certainly not blind faith that keeps me coming back to her - I've tried so many others I've lost count. But I always come back to Uchida.


My sentiments exactly.

DarkAngel

Quote from: SonicMan on September 20, 2007, 06:16:23 AM
Wurtz & Uchida were my initial sets - favor Wurtz, also - just a fine performance and a great value; I see no problem in just owning that one for a complete set.

But if you want to hear another 'take', you might try listening to some on the fortepiano w/ Ronald Brautigam:)

Addition - here's an interesting comparison of Brautigam & Levin in these works from MusicWeb - Dave



Agree full hearted with all the praise for Brautigam sonatas (also his Haydn sonatas) using forte piano, the newest 10 CD set relesed by BIS has additional material at reduced price (price has gone up recently from Amazon sellers). I was never impressed with Mozart forte piano by earlier Bilson, Tan etc but Brautigam and Staier have completely converted me.




If you love the Brautigam sonatas you must get the Immerseel/Sony "vienna years" 2CD set of sonatas and misc works using forte piano, every bit as good with beautiful sound and dramatic performances like Brautigam, unfortunately has become more expensive recently.




Antoine Marchand

#50
I'm curious if somebody knows to Alexei Lubimov.

He's one of my favorite fortepianists, especially when Mozart is concerned.

Lubimov recorded the complete piano sonatas in the nineties; but currently that integral seems largely forgotten by critics and public; I don't know the reason why.

In these recordings he plays some beautiful replicas based on the instruments preferred by Mozart himself (i.e., Johann Andreas Stein and Anton Walter fortepianos).

These recordings were OOP for a while; but now have been repackaged at budget price by Warner Classics/Erato: http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/hnum/3508789?rk=classic&rsk=hitlist

Here two examples about the Lubimov's mastery:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sZbxBprEFY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xlFi4JYoeQ


The new erato

Antoine Marchand = Toon Koopman.

Nice nick.

Gurn Blanston

Quote from: Antoine Marchand on November 16, 2008, 10:55:43 AM
I'm curious if somebody knows to Alexei Lubimov.

He's one of my favorite fortepianists, especially when Mozart is concerned.

Lubimov recorded the complete piano sonatas in the nineties; but currently that integral seems largely forgotten by critics and public; I don't know the reason why.

Probably because until now they hadn't been available. :)  I know Lubimov from some Beethoven disks, addly enough, on Erato  :P

QuoteIn these recordings he plays some beautiful replicas based on the instruments preferred by Mozart himself (i.e., Johann Andreas Stein and Anton Walter fortepianos).

These recordings were OOP for a while; but now have been repackaged at budget price by Warner Classics/Erato: http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/hnum/3508789?rk=classic&rsk=hitlist

Here two examples about the Lubimov's mastery:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sZbxBprEFY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xlFi4JYoeQ



Thanks for the links. I'll probably give the set a try. His playing on the Beethoven was great, but you have to really love the fortepiano (which I do) to like the sound of the one he uses there. Maybe these will sound better. :)

8)
Visit my Haydn blog: HaydnSeek

Haydn: that genius of vulgar music who induces an inordinate thirst for beer - Mily Balakirev (1860)

Bunny

Quote from: erato on November 16, 2008, 12:10:44 PM
Antoine Marchand = Toon Koopman.

Nice nick.

Is that the cartoon version of Ton Koopman?

Que

Quote from: Bunny on November 16, 2008, 01:56:48 PM
Is that the cartoon version of Ton Koopman?

Or the name of his own CD label;D

Quote from: Antoine Marchand on November 16, 2008, 10:55:43 AM
I'm curious if somebody knows to Alexei Lubimov.

He's one of my favorite fortepianists, especially when Mozart is concerned.

Lubimov recorded the complete piano sonatas in the nineties; but currently that integral seems largely forgotten by critics and public; I don't know the reason why.

In these recordings he plays some beautiful replicas based on the instruments preferred by Mozart himself (i.e., Johann Andreas Stein and Anton Walter fortepianos).

Thanks for posting! :)
I was aware of the existence of these recordings but never heard them due to their unavailability.
I do know Lubimov of a very nice four hands Schubert disc with Andreas Staier.

Q

LapsangS

I warmly recommend Glenn Gould's recordings of these sonatas  8)

Antoine Marchand

Quote from: Bunny on November 16, 2008, 01:56:48 PM
Is that the cartoon version of Ton Koopman?

When I registered me on the board, I was confused about the nickname. But I wanted a "HIP nick", a declaration of intent like "OVPP", "Wolf Erichson" (a kind of translation of my own name), "Leonhardt is God" (do you remember the saying about Clapton?) or something like that. At the moment I was listening to the Actus Tragicus with Koopman and his group, when the sopran sings "Ja, komm, Her Jesu, komm!", then I thought  ;D : the options are Ton Koopman or Barbara Schlick! But the last one was a little ambiguous for me and so many people is against Schlick (BTW I love her voice), that I chose Antoine Marchand = Ton Koopman = the CD label of Koopman: One HIP dude, like Que, fighting against the system.

Bunny

Quote from: Antoine Marchand on November 16, 2008, 04:56:05 PM
When I registered me on the board, I was confused about the nickname. But I wanted a "HIP nick", a declaration of intent like "OVPP", "Wolf Erichson" (a kind of translation of my own name), "Leonhardt is God" (do you remember the saying about Clapton?) or something like that. At the moment I was listening to the Actus Tragicus with Koopman and his group, when the sopran sings "Ja, komm, Her Jesu, komm!", then I thought  ;D : the options are Ton Koopman or Barbara Schlick! But the last one was a little ambiguous for me and so many people is against Schlick (BTW I love her voice), that I chose Antoine Marchand = Ton Koopman = the CD label of Koopman: One HIP dude, like Que, fighting against the system.

That's a complicated way to pick a screen name; I just used my childhood nickname.  There are even a few people who still use it. ;)

My post actually was referring to the misspelling by Erato; he wrote "Toon" rather than Ton.  Toon is a colloquialism in English for cartoon, so I had visualized a very hip Smurf (Schtroumpf), playing on his keyboard.


Que

#58
Quote from: Bunny on November 16, 2008, 07:50:16 PM
My post actually was referring to the misspelling by Erato; he wrote "Toon" rather than Ton.

Sorry, missed that! :)
Indeed: "Ton" (sounds as in "Anton", and now we're on the subject: the "oo" in Koopman sounds as in "over". :))

Q

Herman

Quote from: LapsangS on November 16, 2008, 02:44:04 PM
I warmly recommend Glenn Gould's recordings of these sonatas  8)

you're kidding, right?