Which version of Mozart's piano concerto nr20 & 21 ?

I just purchased Piotr Anderszewski's new CD. I like it very much. Mr Anderszewski is a wizard at the keyboard.

quote:

Originally posted by Fredrik_Fiske:

Between finding that Edwin Fischer's reading of the D Minor, Number 20, and this Double Concert is also available in that Salzburg performannce from Haskill and Anda, this is going to be an expensive weekend for me as well! ...

All the best from Fredrik

Well, Dear friends,

I ordered the Orfeo (Austrian Radio) recording of the Double Concerto with Haskill and Anda, and am going to find out the information on the Edwin Fischer recording (LPO 1933) of the D Minor and try again on Monday. I like using the brilliant service my local record shop provides. They are even going to investigate getting the EMI Walcha Bach recordings for me from Toshiba in Japan, even though they don't really deal with them on a regular basis. That is why I patronise them. They are brilliant, though I suspect that shops like this are an endangered species!

As for expense, well, I never ask the price!

All the best from Fredrik

Dear Friends,

I discovered the Appian (APR) webb site! -aprrecordings. co. uk and search the current catalogue. The D Minor and the E flat (nos. 20 and 22) are not the only ones of Edwin Fischers Mozart recordings, which are currently out in modern transfers. They are on sale at £9.99 apiece. Appian used to make really nice LPs of transfers from 78s, so no doubt the quality will be fine. One issue contains the 17th Concerto which I listened to at school on 78s, but only remember the fantastic French Horn playing. I'll have to get it just to check this out! I think I might listen to the soloist as well nowadays, thirty-five years on!

I am not half getting brave hunting the net these days. One day I will really catch up.

All the best from Fredrik

Just a little progress report that my be of passing interest to Fredrik (and likely no-one else). I've been enjoying both the Haskill and the Anda regularly over the past couple of weeks and decided to not play my original Abbado versions meantime until I had gotten to know the new ones a little first.

Well after lunch today I put the Abbado nr21 back on the lp12 and the Anda CD in the CDX2 for a listen.

First impressions were strong and carried on right through the piece - the Anda is more musical (i.e. better) By comparison the Abbado seems more one dimensional and crucially the orchestra and the piano seem to be playing in the same room but not together. The texture of the piano notes seems much richer on the Anda - some notes seem to have a middle as well as a start and finish. The piano seems better recorded on the Anda to and more correct in the mix.

So next up the Clara Haskill which is playing right now. There is truly something magical about this recording. I tried to do the A/B thing between the vinyl and the Haskill CD but ended up just engrossed in the Haskill (again). It is such a involving presentation, I can't really describe it in words ... and it keeps distracting me from typing this too! (Fortunately no-one else is home do I can tum-te-tum along as much as I like) I would love to have heard Haskil play live - that must have been something special. Her deftness and judgement of weight on the slow middle piece is captivating & wonderful.

So thank you again Fredrik for your help - it really has opened my eyes and ears to two fabulous but different performers - and I've had a lot of fun listening.

regards
Ian

Dear Ian,

You cannot imagine how pleased I am by your last post! Don't give up on Abbado though, as he is a great musician.

This Thread alone contains enough fine recomendations to get you much further into the Mozart Piano concertos as a whole, and if you are ever stuck with a precise question again, I will indeed help if I can. - in other words if I have direct experience!

All the best from Fredrik

Fredirik,

yes I'm slowly learning the other pieces on the those two CDs. For me at least Mozart is a grower - at first it often seems attractive in a light way , very accessible and easy to like but not immediately substantial the way e.g the Russian composers demand your full concentration.

But after a while I realise how achingly beautiful and perfect the music is and then you can appreciate it until you die. In that sense they need just as much 'effort' to get into as some of the more heavyweight composers.

Ian

(re-reading this I realise I'm implying Mozart is a lightweight - but I hope you know what I mean)

dear Ian,

You are starting with La Creme de la Creme, with Mozart's Pianoforte Cncertos! He wrote with an eye to, as he put it, the 'amateur and the conoisseur.' I suspect you are begining to see what he meant! as M Uchida said, 'music to easy for children, and too hard for adults!'

You are on a voyage that will last a lifetime! Fred

Fredrik,

" do you think this could be a re-packaging/re-issue of the Haskil 19 & 27 you're recommending ??

Amazon link "


Now that the above has arrived and rather than clutter up the 'current listening' thread I thought I'd answer your question about my first impressions here.


They will be very short and very much first impressions - but sometimes they contain the most important 80% of the whole story.

First up these are clearly old recordings, and not just because they are in mono. The dynamic range seems rather compressed and the sound a little closed in. When one is not used to that it takes a little while to get over. After 20 mins it was still the same - but it didn't matter anymore. It doesn't affect the musicality which shines through anyhow.

So on to the music, as I say I only had one late run through and my impressions are

• 19 - is 'typical' Mozart, easy to like, hard to dislike. Can't say it was an instant Wow.
  
• 27 - Spoke to me much more, some delicious playing.
  
• Haskil is something else, I think I could listen to her playing the scales. There is such nuance in what she does.
  

I'll give it a few more spins over the coming weeks and see how it (or I) mature(s).

regards

Ian

Dear Ian,

Anyone who comes to my flat soon realises that there is only one criterion for keeping a record or CD> That is that it contains great music in a great performance. Sometimes I even manage to get the occasional decent recording! But no these are definately not quite state of the Art, though I never had noticed them before. They are well balanced, which is important.

But Haskil is one of the true greats. She had a wider repertoire than WA Mozart, but the recordings are rather rare and mostly of Mozart. She did one of the very best sets of the Beethoven Violin Sonatas with Artur Grumieaux.

I am not sure that the performance she gives here is not the finest of any in the the B Flat concerto, number 27, KV 595. I can't really describe it, but it is sad and poiniant, and terribly stoical. Haskil was accustomed to life well enough to understand this music from the inside.

Yet her performance of number 19 is full of joy and light. They make an apt pair.

I am so glad you have found pleasure in these recordings.

Bravo!

All the best from Fredrik

quote:

Originally posted by IanGtoo:
So next up the Clara Haskill which is playing right now. There is truly something magical about this recording.

Hi Ian and Fredrik!
Are you talkin' about the Philips recording?

hi Gianluigi,

German Amazon

is the CD Fredrik and I are enjoying.

regards

Ian

Hi Ian!
Deutsche Grammophon then.
Thanks a lot because saw there are some Philips recordings as well!
Cheers!

Dear Gianluigi,

Have no fear. There is no such thing asa disappointing Clara Haskil recording! I have all the DG and Philips recordings and there are unique, splendid, warm hamain documents of a great artist working (usually for Mozart) in the greatest music there is.

See Haskil and buy the records, I say

Time is short so I must get that in before too late! Fredrik

Dear Fredrik!!!!!
Good news!






I'm sitting in my sofa and cheering to your good will in sharing your knoledge in music.
Such beautiful hands caressing the keyboard!
I want to thank you!

Best from Gianluigi!

Dear sirs

I have read this thread with interest.
the mozart piano condert no 20 was immidiadly captivating for me, and wasw in facr the music that brought me into classical music. I felt it was a revelation.


I am the happy owner of Daniel Barenboim and the english chamber orchestra fra EMI with no.21

And Vladimir Ashkenazy w 20 and 21 from Decca.

I used to have the no 20 from Phillips with Neville MAriner and The academy of St Martin in the fields. ( i miss that)

As I dont know the versions of the 20 and 21 you have mentioned in this thread. I will seek them out however.

In the meantime, if you are familiar with the recordings I own, can you please help me by giving your "verdicts" on the versions that I own?

That would be interesting to me, as I have the impression that many people in this forum (and this thread) are much more experineced than myself.

the very best
Peter

I haven't heard any of the Askenazy series, but my experience of his other work tends to fall into the category of technically fine but missing a certain degree of soul.

The Mariner recording you mention, was that the one with Brendel as the pianist? If so, I urge you to try his account with Mackerras and the SCO (coupled with the 24th), an excellent disc (as indeed all the ones in that series are, especially 12 and 17).

I was listening again to the Barenboim ECO account earlier today and, to be honest, I'm not altogether wild about it.

Since I posted last on this thread I've been very much enjoying the Uchida/Tate/ECO series and the 21 from that set is very fine (for more detailed comments on that set see my review on the Mozart thread).

regards, Tam