Mozart Piano Sonata recommendations

Mark

I'd wholehartedly recommend Mitsuko Uchida's recording of the sonatas in C major (KV545) and F major (KV533/494 on Philips, from 1983. Her recent recording of the sSonatas for piano and violin, with Mark Steinberg, also on Philips, is very good too. It makes a change to have a sonata for two - I used to think that all sonatas were for only one instrument!

Nigel

Those are all very fine, though Haskill is special. I have heard great things about the Klara Wurtz set but haven't heard it. The Gulda set is a very aggressive Beethoven-like approach to the Mozart sonatas, but fascinating (I'd stay away from the second volume recently issued, however, due to very poor sound on K.284 and K.310). Good choices. You may wish to also consider the Christoph Eschenbach set available on DG.

Hello Mark,
There is a box set of the complete Mozart Piano Sonatas by Mitsuko Uchida available for the insane price of $28.49US at www.cduniverse.com and they ship to the U.K.
I would provide the link if I knew how. Anyway, check out the site and use the search function choosing "artist" in the 1st field and "Uchida" in the 2nd field.
I think it would be very hard to find a better deal than this. HTH.
Regards,
Brian

Dear Mark,

Don't overlook the Mozart Premium Edition. It contains Carmen Piazzini's recording of the Sonatas, and also a good selection, including all the great mature Piano Concertos, plus a sensible choice of the earlier works. The set is worth the price for Piazzini's contribution alone, but there are also many other fine performances in symphonies, string quartets, other concertos, and so on. 40 CDs. A German based release.



It is dicussed in some detail in this thread:

Heads Up Mozart Fans

George

link to the Uchida set http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=2993898&style=classical

Thank you all for the recommendations.

The Haskill disc is indeed special. I was hoping to have a few more ideas on individual discs like this one as opposed to complete sets, but if the set is cheap and really worth having for one or two sonatas then that's fine. I was also wondering about the DG M. J. Pires sets. The early one seems to be the best received one and the later one less so but seems to be a better recording.

Too late for the 2nd Gulda. Yes the 2 mentioned by oldnslow are heavily distorted. Unfortunately this is the K. 310 A minor one.

Regarding the Mozart premium edition, I almost convinced myself to avoid buying anymore big sets (especially Mozart since I already have the nice Brilliant classics one). However, if this set is really very good then I suppose I could give this a try as well.

Cheers
Mark

Hi Mark

No Sonatas I am afraid.... but based on this



I would think this would be worth a look



e-mail if you want to chat in detail

regards
Geoff

Do you have a set of the Beethoven sonatas? If not, I'd consider those before more Mozart sonatas since in my view the music is superior, and there are many good options reasonably priced. Too bad about the Gulda second set , which never should have been issued, at least those two sonatas.

quote:

Do you have a set of the Beethoven sonatas?

Hello Oldnslow

I have quite a few sets..

The latest Brendel set
Emil Gilels (DG and historic russian archives)
Paul Lewis (incomplete)
Andras Schiff (incomplete)
Michael Korstick (incomplete on oehmsclassic + his other recordings with Ars Musici)
John Lill (Brilliant classics box)
Friedrich Gulda (brilliant)
Later set of Wilhelm Kempf on vinyl
Wilhelm Backhaus on vinyl

and a few individal works by H. Grimaud, E.Kissin,C.Eschenbach,C.Arrau, ....

Sometimes I feel as though I listen to nothing else other than this music...Absolutely fabulous.

I saw your thread about Grigory Sokolov. The 2 box sets were very cheap in a shop called the FNAC in France. Based on your comments about his performance of the chopin preludes, I am also looking very much to hearing that performed live along with the Mozart sonatas.

Regards
Mark

There are tons of choices for Mozart sonatas, of course. For individual discs and recordings, I simply can't be without Wilhelm Kempff, Robert Casadesus, and Clara Haskil, all of whom are among the very best in this repertoire. Friedrich Gulda in his sole authorized release and the newer 3-disc set (which his son authorized) is well worth hearing, but his style is assertive and lean. (The newest 2-CD set is supposedly in awful sound, so I doubt I'll go for it.)

For complete cycles, Walter Klien (in not so great sound), Michael Endres (in state of the art sound), and Lili Krauss (M&A, mono) are my favorites. Klara Wurtz is an excellent budget option. For an interventionist approach, Christian Zacharias is superb, though his K331 ends awfully.

quote:

Originally posted by mtuttleb:
Michael Korstick (incomplete on oehmsclassic +

What is his playing like? I've recently got the LvB bug again (and am racing to 50 complete cycles) and I'm starting to look for more contemporary pianists in this repertoire.
--

If you want a totally different approach try Glenn Gould .. he tries to make Mozart sound like Bach.

quote:

What is his playing like?

For me, his strengths are in the slow pieces. The Op.2/1 Adagio and Op.2/2 Largo appassionato to name but a few, is some of the most involving playing that I have heard. I am already looking forward to the Op.10/1,2,3 and Op.13 coming out next week. Best is to listen and make your own mind up. Sound quality is excellent.

Thanks again to all for the recommendations by the way.

Mark

Anybody know what this set is like?



Mr Brautigam has also just started a series of SACD's (which are hopefully also CD playable) on the Beethoven Sonatas with this;



He is suposed to be well appreciated......Comments?

quote:

Originally posted by Geoff P:
He is suposed to be well appreciated......Comments?

Brautigam is very assertive/aggressive in his style, delivering a blend of HIP style and Friedrich Gulda-esque drive. This works superbly in the first few volumes, but volumes 4 and 5 start to show the limitations with such an approach. There's not enough nuance in the Op 31 sonatas, for instance.

Sound is SOTA, and the discs are hybrid so they can be played on any machine. Volume 6 is due out later this year.

--

Thanks for the helpfull input Todd. I think I will give the 1st Beethoven disc a try just to hear what he makes of the 'pathetique'

regards
Geoff