# Colorful Mozart



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Symphony Cycle/PC Cycles are primarily what I'm looking for. Really ones that bring out the unniquness of each work.

Pls and Thanks!


(I love Uchida/Gould's Mozart Piano Sonatas)


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Here's Kempff and Bruno Maderna in PC 24

https://rutube.ru/video/c2cde3e37d06e333f4166a9725bf027c/

Worth hearing Gould in the same concerto if you really like him; and Maderna in the Prague Symphony if you can find it.

the younger Bruggen was exceptional in Symphony 40, maybe try this, though it's not his best on record.






Another thing well worth seeking out for colour is Daniel Isoir's adaptation of the 27th piano concerto.

If you want a set of concertos, think about Christian Zacharias's first recordings.

For the Jupiter there's always Scherchen


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

The Complete Symphonies by The Academy of Ancient Music with Christopher Hogwood:






Many of these performances are available online. It's not just the genius of the notes that matter but bringing out the aliveness of the spirit and the brilliance behind the notes. Hogwood understands this. Of course, if one is just looking for a superficial hearing of these great works, to be hyper-critical and dismissive, it doesn't really matter whether the performances are that good or colorful or not.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Larkenfield said:


> The Complete Symphonies by The Academy of Ancient Music with Christopher Hogwood:
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I came across Robert Levin with the line up you mentioned doing a Mozart Piano Concerto, looks like he's playing on a period dated piano. Very different sound, it makes a lot of difference! I enjoy it very much. The orchestra is very lucid too!

A bit of research, he's playing on a fortepiano which I suppose IS what Mozart composed for.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Larkenfield said:


> The Complete Symphonies by The Academy of Ancient Music with Christopher Hogwood:
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This 4th is so splendid!  Thank you.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Has anyone ever recorded Mozart's Piano Sonatas in full on the pianoforte?


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## Josquin13 (Nov 7, 2017)

An overview:

I don't know if you want modern or period instrument sets? or both?

1. On modern instruments, pianist Alfred Brendel's Philips set with Sir Neville Mariner & the Academy of St. Martin's in the Fields makes an excellent choice, especially on the bargain Eloquence box set reissue that has been remastered in Ambient Surround Sound (or AMSI): https://www.amazon.de/Klavierkonzer...ed+brendel+eloquence+mozart+piano+con certos. Brendel's later Mozart PC recordings with Sir Charles Mackerras on Philips never constituted a complete cycle (not close).

Pianist Ingrid Haebler's old Philips cycle, with various conductors & orchestras, is worthwhile too, though, if interested, it might take some looking to find it at a reasonable price, as the set appears to be out of print: https://www.amazon.de/Complete-Pian...eywords=Ingrid+Haebler+mozart+piano+concertos

Alicia de Larrocha is excellent in Mozart Piano Concertos, as well, but she never recorded a complete set. What she did record with Sir Colin Davis & the English Chamber Orchestra on RCA, and Uri Segal on Decca is first rate, and strongly recommended.

Otherwise, you might look into Murray Perahia & the English Chamber Orchestra on Sony: https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Compl...eywords=murray+perahia+mozart+piano+concertos. Although I personally find De Larrocha's phrasing & ornamentation in Mozart to be more interesting, and Davis was a better (& more seasoned) Mozart conductor than Perahia, too, in my opinion.

Christian Zacharias's first EMI cycle makes another excellent bargain choice: https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-21-Pi...=Christian+zacharias+mozart+piano+concerto s. Zacharias's more recent cycle on MDG Gold has incredibly fine audiophile sound (especially on the individual hybrid SACD releases), but I tend to prefer his earlier EMI performances.

https://www.amazon.com/MOZART-Compe...68T82MGJ1PK&psc=1&refRID=54FP8FWK568T82MGJ1PK

Andras Schiff's set with conductor Sandor Vegh & the Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum is good too: & they're particularly excellent in the earlier concertos. Among other Hungarian pianists, Zoltan Kocsis and Deszo Ranki's incomplete cycle on Hungaroton is even better than Schiff's, IMO. (Kocsis later recorded a single CD of Mozart PCs on Philips with conductor Ivan Fischer & the Budapest Festival Orchestra that is remarkable, too.)

Geza Anda's well regarded old DG set with the Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum is excellent too, though the music making is heavily on the romantic side.

I'm an admirer of Rudolf Serkin's Mozart too, but by the time he recorded his DG cycle with Claudio Abbado, it was late in Serkin's career, and his playing is better on his earlier Columbia/CBS Mozart recordings. Nor did Serkin finish his DG cycle, either.

Among other fine Mozart pianists, Clara Haskil, Ivan Moravec, Elisabeth Rich, Dubravka Tomsic, and Maria Joao Pires never recorded complete PC cycles, alas.

2. On period instruments, there have been several very fine Mozart Piano Concerto sets by (1) Malcolm Bilson & the English Baroque Soloists, conducted by John Eliot Gardiner, (2) Jos Van Immerseel & Anima Eterna, and (3) Vivian Sofronitsky & the Musica Antiqua Collegium Varsoviense: https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Forte...1&keywords=mozart+piano+concertos+sofronitsky.

Of these, I've probably preferred Bilson's set with Gardiner, whose conducting is exceptional on this set (as it's early Gardiner--from his Erato & early Archiv period, which some collectors think was his best period to date). Ronald Brautigam is currently recording a cycle for BIS, but I haven't heard it. Kristian Bezuidenhout is also presently recording a cycle for Harmonia Mundi, with the Freiburger Barockorchester, which is very good, so far. (Kristian Bezuidenhout is also worth hearing in the chamber version of KV 414 with Chiaroscuro: 



). Robert Levin's incomplete cycle with Christopher Hogwood is well worth sampling too. Finally, I wish that fortepianist Daniel Isoir & Le Petite Symphonie would record more than just their single CD for the agOgique label. It's scaled down Mozart, but brilliant, in my opinion: 



.

3. As for complete sets of Mozart's symphonies, my personal preferences are for the pioneering period sets by Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music, and Trevor Pinnock & The English Concert on Archiv. Both are wonderful. I particularly like Hogwood's Paris & Prague Symphonies, nos. 31 & 38:










https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Engli...366&sr=8-1&keywords=mozart+pinnock+symphonies

The Erato recordings from Ton Koopman & the Amsterdam Baroque Soloists are excellent too, but Koopman never finished his cycle. The same is true for Frans Bruggen's Mozart Symphony recordings on Philips--which are among my favorites, but unfortunately Bruggen didn't finish the cycle. Finally, Nikolaus Harnoncourt recorded the early symphonies (in two volumes) with his period ensemble Concentus Musicus Wien (in very good performances), and the later symphonies with the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam & the COE on modern instruments:

https://www.amazon.com/Early-Sympho...r=1-19&keywords=harnoncourt+mozart+symphonies
https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Early...r=1-11&keywords=harnoncourt+mozart+symphonies

4. If you want modern instrument sets, I'd recommend that you look into three orchestras that play Mozart exceptionally well--the Staatskapelle Dresden, Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, and English Chamber Orchestra. Of these three, only the latter two orchestras have recorded a complete Mozart cycle--with conductors Hans Graf & Jeffrey Tate, respectively. While the Staatskapelle has recorded Mozart Symphonies extensively with Sir Colin Davis, Herbert Blomstedt, & Otmar Suitner.

I'd also recommend looking into the modern instrument cycle by conductor Adam Fischer & the Danish National Chamber Orchestra, which I've yet to hear myself, but it's been well reviewed, and I did like Fischer's complete Haydn Symphony set: https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-45-Sy...545077240&sr=8-1&keywords=adam+fischer+mozart

However, I'd avoid Karl Böhm's DG set with the Berlin Philharmonic, as the symphonies are performed in a Brahms-like style that Mozart wouldn't have recognized (despite that some people like their Mozart to sound like Brahms, and the Berlin Philharmonic does play well for Böhm).

Hope that helps.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Josquin13 said:


> An overview:
> 
> I don't know if you want modern or period instrument sets? or both?
> 
> ...


Thank you for typing all that out, I will search through your options!


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

This album is sounding good to me:

Mozart: Alfred Brendel & Walter Klien
Album by Alfred Brendel & Walter klien


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

https://www.talkclassical.com/58464-mozart-my-enemy.html?highlight=


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