# Your favorite complete (or near complete) Mozart piano concerto cycle?



## Anooj (Dec 5, 2021)

For the purposes of this poll, sets that miss out on 1-4 or 7 & 10 count as complete.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Neither of my favorite sets is listed:


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## Josquin13 (Nov 7, 2017)

I'm surprised that Ingrid Haebler isn't on your list. She recorded a complete set with four different conductors on Philips, & is a very fine Mozart pianist: Ingrid Haebler - Mozart : Complete Piano Concertos 10CD box sealed Decca | eBay

It's a pity that neither Alicia de Larrocha, Maria Joao Pires, Clara Haskil, or Rudolf Serkin (in his prime) ever completed a cycle. They are four of my favorite Mozart pianists, & especially Larrocha, who improvises or adds ornament in a classical style better than most. Like Murray Perahia, she made most of her recordings with the English Chamber Orchestra, an excellent Mozart band, but wisely chose Sir Colin Davis to conduct. Of course, Davis was a veteran Mozart conductor & it shows, which gives her an advantage over Perahia, who conducts from the keyboard. I often find her phrasing to be more interesting than Perahia's, too.

In addition, there is a superb partial cycle on Hungaroton from the brilliant young Hungarian pianists (at the time), Zoltan Kocsis & Dezso Ranki, but unfortunately I don't believe they ever finished it. 

It's nice to see the period sets by Immerseel & Bilson get included on your list. I like both. Though there's another worthwhile period cycle from fortepianist Viviana Sofronitsky on Etcetera. Some people rave about it, but I wasn't entirely won over by the conducting or period orchestra. Nevertheless, Sofronitsky's playing is fantastic (by the way, she's Vladimir Sofronitsky's daughter).

The other fine cycle that isn't on your list is the digital set from pianist Matthias Kirschnereit: Matthias Kirschnereit, Bamberger Symphoniker, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Frank Beermann - Piano Concertos - Amazon.com Music.

Otherwise, I think you've included most of the important ones. By the way, I voted for Brendel, Bilson, & Anda, though I like Schiff, Immerseel, and Zacharias 1 a lot, too.

EDIT: I now see that while I was typing my post wkasimer beat me to it by mentioning the cycles from Sofronitsky & Kirschnereitt. Oh well. He's the person that introduced me to Kirschnereitt's Mozart cycle (thanks!), though I had already heard Kirschnereitt's remarkable Handel Concerto recordings at the time.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Overall the Geza Anda set on DG.


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## Anooj (Dec 5, 2021)

Josquin13 said:


> I'm surprised that Ingrid Haebler isn't on your list. She recorded a complete set with four different conductors on Philips, & is a very fine Mozart pianist: Ingrid Haebler - Mozart : Complete Piano Concertos 10CD box sealed Decca | eBay
> 
> It's a pity that neither Alicia de Larrocha, Maria Joao Pires, Clara Haskil, or Rudolf Serkin (in his prime) ever completed a cycle. They are four of my favorite Mozart pianists, & especially Larrocha, who improvises or adds ornament in a classical style better than most. Like Murray Perahia, she made most of her recordings with the English Chamber Orchestra, an excellent Mozart band, but wisely chose Sir Colin Davis to conduct. Of course, Davis was a veteran Mozart conductor & it shows, which gives her an advantage over Perahia, who conducts from the keyboard. I often find her phrasing to be more interesting than Perahia's, too.
> 
> ...


I didn’t include any others, as I was under the impression these polls are limited to 15 options (or has that changed?)

Larrocha is very good, indeed.

Speaking of incomplete cycles, what do you think of Andor Foldes? He recorded only 10, 15, 17, 21, and 25, but those are all absolutely sublime performances.


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## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

Have (or have had) all those mentioned and my top 3 overall picks would be Perahia, Schiff and Buchbinder.


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## Josquin13 (Nov 7, 2017)

Anooj said:


> I didn’t include any others, as I was under the impression these polls are limited to 15 options (or has that changed?)
> 
> Larrocha is very good, indeed.
> 
> Speaking of incomplete cycles, what do you think of Andor Foldes? He recorded only 10, 15, 17, 21, and 25, but those are all absolutely sublime performances.


I don't know if these polls are limited to 15 or not, as I've never done one, but probably so. However, I would've substituted Haebler's box set for Barenboim's 2nd Berlin cycle, or possibly Jando's cycle myself. But that's just me. Others might disagree. Personally, I consider Haebler to be an underrated pianist, & especially in Mozart (but also Bach & Schubert).

No, I've not heard Andor Foldes play Mozart. I've only heard his Bartok, which I liked. But I have been considering buying the Foldes DG box set (since he's not well represented in my collection), & I wonder, are all of those Mozart concerto recordings that you mention included in the DG set? Is that where you know them from?

Another Mozart PC cycle that got squashed after only a single release!, was a period chamber cycle from fortepianist Daniel Isoir & Le Petite Symphonie on the AgOgique label. I very much enjoyed the single CD that came out, so I was disappointed that there weren't any further releases:






Murray Perahia's second cycle with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe didn't come to fruition, either, due to a hand injury that Perahia received at the time (if memory serves, he sustained a minor paper cut to one of his fingers & it became infected). Which is too bad because I treasure the one CD that came out from that cycle. It represents Perahia at his best, in my opinion. I wonder if he'll ever try to resume the cycle again? Although he's no longer with Sony, so maybe not.










I also wish there was a Mozart PC cycle from pianist Dubravka Tomsic, who, IMO, is an ideal Mozart pianist, due to her quick, nimble hands, and fine musicality. Plus, there is an egoless quality to her playing that I'm very much drawn to (it's in her superb Bach, Scarlatti, & Chopin, too),






Years ago, Tomsic was contracted to record the Complete Mozart Piano Sonatas for the Koch label, but then the company went out of business after only volume 1 had been released. Nevertheless, it's one of my favorite Mozart CDs:






I'd also like to see Krystian Zimerman record a Mozart PC cycle, but that's likely wishful thinking, considering how self-critical he can be, having withdrawn his only Mozart recording to date for DG (from his early years), which I thought was wonderful.

Lastly, I'd consider Mieczyslaw Horszowski to be one of the great Mozart pianists that I've heard in my life. However, he didn't record many of the piano concertos, either, only a complete set of the piano sonatas for Arbiter (which I treasure).

Well, I think I've covered most of my favorites now (between my two posts).


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Geza Anda / Camerata Academica des Salzburger Mozarteums for sure no 1


Murray Perahia / English Chamber Orchestra 
Daniel Barenboim (1st cycle, English Chamber Orchestra)


With a few runners up.


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## Anooj (Dec 5, 2021)

Josquin13 said:


> I don't know if these polls are limited to 15 or not, as I've never done one, but probably so. However, I would've substituted Haebler's box set for Barenboim's 2nd Berlin cycle, or possibly Jando's cycle myself. But that's just me. Others might disagree. Personally, I consider Haebler to be an underrated pianist, & especially in Mozart (but also Bach & Schubert).
> 
> No, I've not heard Andor Foldes play Mozart. I've only heard his Bartok, which I liked. But I have been considering buying the Foldes DG box set (since he's not well represented in my collection), & I wonder, are all of those Mozart concerto recordings that you mention included in the DG set? Is that where you know them from?
> 
> ...


I don’t have that Andor Foldes box, but his Mozart PC recordings are indeed included. I have them on this double CD:


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Josquin13 said:


> In addition, there is a superb partial cycle on Hungaroton from the brilliant young Hungarian pianists (at the time), Zoltan Kocsis & Dezso Ranki, but unfortunately I don't believe they ever finished it.


Kocsis recorded about half of the mature concerti on a variety of labels, including Hungaroton, Harmonia Mundi, and a terrific Philips CD that stayed in print for all of fifteen seconds:










Kocsis was terrific in everything he touched, and the Mozart concerti are no exception.


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## marlow (11 mo ago)

Serkin recorded some Mozart concerti and they are great performances. Also Kempff.


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## marlow (11 mo ago)

Serkin recorded some Mozart concerti and they are great performances. Also Kempff. And A Fischer.


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## advokat (Aug 16, 2020)

"Other" for me means Matthias Kirschnereit's cycle.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

marlow said:


> Serkin recorded some Mozart concerti and they are great performances. Also Kempff. And A Fischer.


Which Serkin? Father or son?

I agree about Annie Fischer's Mozart concerti. IIRC, pretty strong orchestral support, too.


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

For me, Anda is consistently full of life and musically appealing.


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## deangelisj35 (9 mo ago)

wkasimer said:


> Which Serkin? Father or son?
> 
> I agree about Annie Fischer's Mozart concerti. IIRC, pretty strong orchestral support, too.





wkasimer said:


> Which Serkin? Father or son?


According to post #3, it's the papa, Rudolf.


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

My go-to-performance has been Perahia, but now it's Roland Brautigam. Also bought the 2nd one by Zackarias. I'm glad I have spotify and can choose whatever anytime


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

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