Mozart piano sonatas

[Mandryka]

I'm thinking, a Mozart sonata would be perfect for a blind comparison... With two categories, modern piano and pianoforte...
Or mayve even better, the Fantasia in C minor...

Yes I would be interested in the Fantasia.

[Todd]

What's the opinion on Arrau here?

Quite good, and better than I thought it would be before listening.  He favors slow tempi, and his tone is rich and the playing is a bit heavy for Mozart, at least at times, but Arrau manages to make it work.  Not a top choice.  More an alternate choice.

[Mandryka]

What's the opinion on Gould here?

[Todd]

What's the opinion on Gould here?

Crap.

[elotito]

I've been listening to a few samples of some of the recommended cycles and it has been quite an interesting journey already! I was primarily comparing the third section of kv331 just because I know it better than any of the others. Pires seems to play this very slowly and it sounds a little odd to me like this. Uchida on the other hand plays it at break-neck speed! Other than this I didn't really have much to separate them, they are both great quality recordings and I can't find much fault in them.

I couldn't find a sample of this piece by Oort so I had a listen to some of the other sonatas and the sound of the piano itself sounded weird, I know it's going to sound different but there was an unpleasant low end rattle underneath the main sound, I don't know how else to describe it.

After this I wasn't expecting to like Bezuidenhout at all but I have to say his recordings sound amazing. I like the sound of the instrument itself and I find his playing more appealing than most of the others I've heard, it seems less sedate somehow.

[SonicMan46]

I had never realized that this Badura-Skoda had gone rare; I have always thought that if I had it, everyone else could get it easily too!      Anyway, if it is on your favorite stream or download site, by all means give it a listen. He's brilliant.

   

Gurn - I'd love to get my hands on the PB-S fortepiano recordings - I have the Mozart sonata cycle inserted above which is on a modern piano (not sure which kind - Jed Distler's brief description below does not help much).  I see the individual discs on Classicsonline as MP3 downloads but would rather have the original CDs - well will just wait - Dave

Paul Badura-Skoda has been recording Mozart sonatas since the 1950s, including two complete cycles: one from 1978-81 for Eurodisc on a modern-day concert grand, the other from 1984-90 for Naïve using a 1790 Johann Schantz Viennese fortepiano. In February 2013 the 85-year-old pianist revisited K. 545, 330, and 331 for the present release, using an Anton Walter Hammerflügel that also dates from around 1790. - See more at: http://www.classicstoday.com/review/paul-badura-skoda-revisits-mozart/#sthash.XJy1zH0o.dpuf

[king ubu]

Crap.

A fairly common view, I assume. But for me, Gould's Mozart works.

Leonhardt's I don't know. Not familiar at all with him really.

[Mandryka]

Crap.

I think you should listen again to his K 576. I played it again last night for the first time in years - after hearing Uchida do it. I thought it was a really inspired imaginative  performance - more so than Uchida's in fact.

[Todd]

I think you should listen again to his K 570.

I sold all my Gould except his Bach, which I like, and his Beethoven, which I will keep around to occasionally remind me how much I dislike it.  I detest his Mozart.

[Mandryka]

I sold all my Gould except his Bach, which I like, and his Beethoven, which I will keep around to occasionally remind me how much I dislike it.  I detest his Mozart.

(i should have said 576)

I think we've had a similar conversation before - I just had this wierd déjà vu feeling.

Other interesting "contentious" Mozart I like - Pletnev's first recording for Melodiya; Ashkenazy's first recording (for Decca maybe). One I've never appreciated is Yudina's.

[Florestan]

A fairly common view, I assume. But for me, Gould's Mozart works.

+1.

[Florestan]

I sold all my Gould except his Bach, which I like, and his Beethoven, which I will keep around to occasionally remind me how much I dislike it.  I detest his Mozart.

I like just about everything Gould recorded, but then again I´m a monarchist while you´re a republican... 

[king ubu]

I like just about everything Gould recorded, but then again I´m a monarchist while you´re a republican... 

Ouch ... that has me reconsider, as all nobility deserves (at best!) the guillotine! So let me proclaim Gould's the true jacobin Mozart!   

[Florestan]

as all nobility deserves (at best!) the guillotine!

Had it not been for the nobility, we would have had no music at all to discuss on GMG. I mean it dead seriously. 

[North Star]

Had it not been for the nobility, we would have had no music at all to discuss on GMG. I mean it dead seriously. 

And if the nobility still ruled most of the world, I'm sure there would be no GMG..

[Gurn Blanston]

Gurn - I'd love to get my hands on the PB-S fortepiano recordings - I have the Mozart sonata cycle inserted above which is on a modern piano (not sure which kind - Jed Distler's brief description below does not help much).  I see the individual discs on Classicsonline as MP3 downloads but would rather have the original CDs - well will just wait - Dave

I have both of them, Dave. The reason Jed doesn't tell you more is that there is virtually nothing in the liner notes to tell you. After buying it and finding nothing about it on the box or elsewhere, I didn't even know it was a modern piano until I actually played it! That said, it is an excellent traversal and B-S is capable of playing real ornaments even though it is no picnic on the heavier action of a modern piano. The cycle on the Schantz is excellent, my favorite. I was so pleased it got released again, if even for a short time. Astrée/Naive are so so stingy with their catalog...

[king ubu]

Now that my curiosity is piqued ... is there but one complete Mozart sonata cycle by PBS?

I see there's also a new disc recorded 2013 - has anyone heard it?

[asin]B00EHZ3C9U[/asin]

[Florestan]

And if the nobility still ruled most of the world, I'm sure there would be no GMG..

You really that sure?

Yours is as contrafactual a statement as it gets, while mine is backed up by facts. 

[Ken B]

I sold all my Gould except his Bach, which I like, and his Beethoven, which I will keep around to occasionally remind me how much I dislike it.  I detest his Mozart.

I'm mostly in Todd's camp on Gould. I do like some of his stuff. His Schoenberg concerto is very good indeed. He has interesting insights into pieces sometimes. But Bach aside rarely am I convinced.

PS Gould fans should purchase this http://www.davegrossman.net/gould/

[Florestan]

I'm mostly in Todd's camp on Gould. I do like some of his stuff. His Schoenberg concerto is very good indeed. He has interesting insights into pieces sometimes. But Bach aside rarely am I convinced.

Not even Consort of Musicke?