# Mozart's sonatas



## Clouds Weep Snowflakes

I have them all played by Daniel Barenboim, personally I find them to be charming, how commonly are they performed today? Here is one I really like:




And who is this pianist? She looks even younger than I am (I'm 29), so much for Classical music is only for elderly people...


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## RockyIII

I have the set by Maria João Pires which I like a lot.


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## Ras

> Clouds Weep Snowflakes said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have them all played by Daniel Barenboim, personally I find them to be charming,
> 
> 
> 
> You should also hear Mozart's sonatas *for piano four hands and two pianos*. This one from the seventies is still my favorite:
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## Clouds Weep Snowflakes

Ras said:


> You should also hear Mozart's sonatas *for piano four hands and two pianos*. This one from the seventies is still my favorite:
> 
> View attachment 122262
> 
> 
> 
> This one sounds like an interesting twist, how is it different?
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## Mandryka

Clouds Weep Snowflakes said:


> personally I find them to be charming,


The thing I like most isn't a sonata, it's a little free piece he called a fantasy


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## Clouds Weep Snowflakes

Mandryka said:


> The thing I like most isn't a sonata, it's a little free piece he called a fantasy


How popular is the harpsicord today? This one sounds great!


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## Ras

Clouds Weep Snowflakes said:


> How popular is the harpsicord today?


If you look at performances of Haydn and Mozart it is quite unusual. Modern pianos or period fortepianos are used more often.
If you look at Baroque performances they usually use harpsichords.


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## Ras

Clouds Weep Snowflakes said:


> Ras said:
> 
> 
> 
> This one sounds like an interesting twist, how is it different?
> 
> 
> 
> I should clarify: it is not an interesting twist on music otherwise played by one pianist - it is music originally written for 2 pianists, so it's not the sonatas you know from your Barenboim -- it is original sonatas in their own right.
> 
> Mozart also wrote a concerto for 2 pianos and a concerto for 3 pianos (number 7 and 10) which are often NOT included in box-sets with Mozart's piano concertos. I love them both (even though the experts say only the concerto for 2 piano is a great work).
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## Ras

Clouds Weep Snowflakes said:


> I have them all played by Daniel Barenboim, personally I find them to be charming,


I do like Barenboim's box from EMI/Warner - but there is more playfulness and fun in Pires' Denon recording or Eschenbach's DG recording. Pires' cycle is from the 70s and have been re-released by Brilliant classics.:
PIRES:








ESCHENBACH:


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## Kjetil Heggelund

If you like fortepiano, you can try Ronald Brautigam or Kristian Bezuidenhout. Recently I heard Christian Blackshaw in live recordings from Wigmore Hall. A poetic and profound interpretation!


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## jegreenwood

Kjetil Heggelund said:


> If you like fortepiano, you can try Ronald Brautigam or Kristian Bezuidenhout. Recently I heard Christian Blackshaw in live recordings from Wigmore Hall. A poetic and profound interpretation!


Bought Brautigam recently (along with his Haydn). I've been sampling both and have enjoyed them. His Beethoven next?

As for Mozart on modern piano, I'm happy with Uchida, plus various recordings from a variety of pianists Plus Tidal.


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## Josquin13

Clouds Weeps Snowflakes asks, "And who is this pianist? She looks even younger than I am (I'm 29)..."

Her name is Natalie Schwamova, and I agree, she's gifted: https://www.instagram.com/schwamovanatalie/

For Mozart's piano sonatas & fantasias, etc.--which are among my favorite solo piano works--my most treasured recordings are by Alicia de Larrocha on Decca & RCA; Mieczyslaw Horszowski on the Arbiter label (& Nonesuch); Malcolm Bilson on Hungaroton (playing a fortepiano); Ingrid Haebler's 2nd cycle on Denon (her earlier Philips cycle is first class too, but has been criticized for Haebler's tendency to adopt a "Dresden china" approach to Mozart... a style of playing that is associated with certain characteristics of Dresden porcelain figurines; although I don't think this criticism is entirely fair); a 2CD Sony set from Jos van Immerseel playing sonatas from Mozart's late Vienna years on a fortepiano; Maria Joao Pires' 1st cycle on Denon (which I prefer to her later DG cycle--now reissued by Brilliant, where it's a top discount choice, IMO--see link below; although I've not heard how the Brilliant sound quality compares to the latest Denon set, which is the one that I own); a single CD by Dubravka Tomsic issued on the Koch label (sadly, Tomsic's Mozart series ended after Volume 1, as Koch subsequently went out of business); Clara Haskil, who was a great Mozart pianist, & virtually all of her Mozart recordings are included in the following bargain box set, which comes in superb AMSI remasters (including her 'classic' recordings of the violin sonatas with Arthur Grumiaux, which have never sounded better, IMO): https://www.amazon.de/Clara-Haskil-...=8-1&keywords=clara+haskil+mozart+eloquence); Christian Zacharias's first cycle on EMI (another top discount choice, IMO: https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Piano...d=1515483500&sr=1-6&keywords=Mozart+Zacharias and https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Compl...natas+Zacharias&qid=1565199133&s=music&sr=1-8), and Elizabeth Rich's brilliant series for the now defunct Connoisseur Society label. I've also liked Alfred Brendel's Philips Mozart recordings, which comprise an incomplete cycle that has now been reissued in a bargain set by Universal Eloquence (also in excellent AMSI remasters): https://www.amazon.com/Brendel-spie...spielt+mozart&qid=1565119702&s=gateway&sr=8-1

If I were pressed to pick just one or two discs from the above list for my 'desert island', I'd be tempted to choose these two, which get a lot of playing time on my stereo:

https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Piano...cha+rca+mozart&qid=1565117841&s=music&sr=1-10





https://www.allmusic.com/album/mozart-piano-sonatas-vol-1-mw0001841015
https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Piano...tomsic+mozart&qid=1565117990&s=gateway&sr=8-1





As for picking the best Mozart Piano Sonata cycles, that's harder to decide upon, but, for me, the choice would be between some combination of Alicia de Larrocha's recordings on Decca & RCA (her remarkable earlier Decca recordings have now been reissued by the Eloquence label--seek link below), Mieczyslaw Horszowski's set on Arbiter, Maria Joao Pires on Denon, Ingrid Haebler on Denon,, and Elizabeth Rich's Connoisseur series. While on a fortepiano my top pick would be Malcolm Bilson, although I've also liked the Mozart cycle from his former student, Kristian Bezuidenhout, on Harmonia Mundi. (For a complete set of Mozart's Variations for solo piano, Ronald Brautigam's set is excellent, too, & he plays on a fortepiano.)

--Alicia de Larrocha:

https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Sonat...cha+eloquence&qid=1565118061&s=gateway&sr=8-3
https://www.amazon.com/Alicia-Larro...+larrocha+RCA&qid=1565118726&s=gateway&sr=8-1

--Ingrid Haebler, Denon: 



https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Piano...5480460&sr=1-2&keywords=ingrid+haebler+mozart (Here too is a link to her earlier Mozart cycle for Philips: https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Piano...480460&sr=1-10&keywords=ingrid+haebler+mozart.)

--Maria Joao Pires, on Denon & later reissued by Brilliant--btw, the latest Denon remasters in the complete box set offer much improved sound, as the sound quality on the original, individual Denon CDs was criticized in some quarters:





https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%83%A2%...+pires+mozart&qid=1565118521&s=gateway&sr=8-4
https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Compl...CT6QM1SPAX8&psc=1&refRID=E1S4SJKT3CT6QM1SPAX8

--Mieczyslaw Horszowski: It's a shame that Arbiter has allowed these 'classic' Horszowski recordings to go out of print:

https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Compl... rbiter&qid=1565118647&s=music&sr=1-1-catcorr
https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Compl...rszowski+mozart&qid=1565118581&s=music&sr=1-6

Horszowski's teacher, Theodor Leschititzky once said of his student that "Mozart is in Horszowski's soul." That is of course high praise. To put into perspective how long a life Horszowski lived, his main teacher Leschititzky was born in 1830 and at the age of 11 played a Carl Czerny Piano Concerto with an orchestra conducted by Mozart's youngest son, Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart! (Leschetizky also taught pianists Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Arthur Schnabel, Benno Moiseiwitsch, Ignaz Friedman, and other great pianists of the 20th Century.) As a boy, Horszowski additionally studied with Cyrill Kistler, who had been a friend of Richard Wagner's! In 1899, Kistler described Horszowski as "A child of seven years who can play all the compositions of Bach from memory and without defects! I asked this boy to transpose for me a work in minor and in other keys. How did he play this? To marvel at!" (from Arbiter label booklet notes). Horszowski's own pupil, Murray Perahia, much admired his teacher's Mozart & Bach playing, and said "in [Horszowski's] playing, everything seems supple and effortless, as if a piano were as easy as uttering speech". Perahia also said that Horszowski "played Bach like he was composing it."






















--Malcolm Bilson: Bilson's complete set for Hungaroton, which was issued in two volumes originally, is similarly now offered at ridiculously high asking prices on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Wolfgang-Ama...alcolm+bilson&qid=1565118795&s=gateway&sr=8-5
https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Compl...lcolm+bilson&qid=1565118795&s=gateway&sr=8-10

Although presently, there's a single copy of the later complete set for sale (at $34.99): https://www.amazon.com/Piano-Sonata...&keywords=malcolm+bilson+mozart+piano+sonatas

Fortunately, Bilson's set can be listened to in its entirety on You Tube: 




(Though I see that Jos van Immerseel's equally excellent Sony recording of Mozart's late Vienna works composed between 1782-1789 is still available at a reasonable price: https://www.amazon.com/Vienna-Years...seel+vienn a&qid=1565118923&s=gateway&sr=8-1.)

--Elizabeth Rich: Unfortunately, the same pricing issues apply to Rich's OOP Mozart series, except for Volume 1; although Archiv Music seems to still have copies available at a reasonable cost (see link below).

https://www.allmusic.com/album/mozart-complete-piano-sonatas-vol-3-mw0001413294
https://www.audaud.com/mozart-compl...oven-sonata-no-8-in-c-minor-op-13-pathetique/
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=107381

https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Compl...lizabeth+rich&qid=1565119066&s=gateway&sr=8-2
https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Compl...lizabeth+rich&qid=1565119066&s=gateway&sr=8-5
https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Compl...lizabeth+rich&qid=1565119066&s=gateway&sr=8-6
https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Compl...lizabeth+rich&qid=1565119066&s=gateway&sr=8-7
https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Compl...lizabeth+rich&qid=1565119066&s=gateway&sr=8-3

I should mention that Rich is a student of Schenkerian musical analysis (like Wilhelm Fürtwangler & pianist Edward Aldwell), and therefore, she can, at times, manipulate rhythms for expressive or dramatic purposes (it's deliberate). For me, these are more searching, deeper interpretations than I normally hear, and I find her Mozart illuminating and profound. But it won't be for everyone, particularly those that prefer a stricter, tighter & more precise adherence to Mozart's tempi, such as from a pianist like Walter Klein, for example, or any enthusiasts of the "Dresden china" school of playing Mozart. To my ears, Rich's Mozart sounds closer to Beethoven, which I believe is spot on, since Beethoven learned a great deal from Mozart, and their sonatas (& music) have a lot more in common than I think detractors of Mozart's sonatas often realize.

As for ornamentation or added embellishments to Mozart's sonatas (& concertos), I most like the way Alicia de Larrocha, Malcolm Bilson, Mieczyslaw Horszowski, and Alfred Brendel ornament or improvise in Mozart. I also find pianist & scholar Robert Levin's lectures on the subject very interesting:









https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Piano...rt+levin+mozart&qid=1565123586&s=music&sr=1-7

My 13 cents.


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## Mandryka

Here's Siegbert Rampe


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## Larkenfield

Clouds Weep Snowflakes said:


> I have them all played by Daniel Barenboim, personally I find them to be charming, how commonly are they performed today? Here is one I really like:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And who is this pianist? She looks even younger than I am (I'm 29), so much for Classical music is only for elderly people...


Natalie Schwamova is from the Ukraine and one of my favorite young pianists. I've posted a number of her videos on different threads and I've never heard her play except on the finest of pianos. (But there's something wrong with the sound quality of this Mozart upload; there's distortion and the breaking up of the sound, and it's perhaps one of her less impressive performances.) I think she's wonderful, especially in Chopin, and can play virtually anything. I foresee a great future for her. She has her own YouTube channel and it's worth visiting to hear her other outstanding performances.


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## Mandryka

Here's a pianist I'd like to see in concert


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## Enthusiast

I have slowly and over many years come to love the Mozart sonatas. I seem to have many sets now and value most of them very highly and in different ways. Gulda's self-recorded set (I think it comes in two parts) played on a Bosendorfer is special. It marked his return to classical music. The recordings, though, are a little eccentric (some distortion in some of the sonatas). I have also come to enjoy (a lot) the relatively recent Say set. Brautigam (forte piano) is also very good. And, as you'd expect, Uchida's set is very good as well. And then there is the set by Arrau, which is excellent. I came across it a few years ago and was expecting it to be somewhat ponderous - not "his" repertoire, I thought - but was very pleasantly surprised. He is often a little slower than the others I have mentioned but has a real feel for Mozart. I'm afraid that, next to all these, I found the Pires recordings a little dull.


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## Mandryka

Here's some modern piano ones which I think are interesting.

A dark 311 from Bozhanov






A very arresting first movement in this 331 from Yudina






And Pletnev's first recording of Mozart sonatas, limited rubato but exploits modern piano effects very well IMO to produce something interesting to hear






And here's a very ealrly 310 from Ashkenazy, made when he first became well known this side of the iron curtain, there's a recording he made from the same period with 576, 310 and 311 which I like very much.






This is the 1969 recording -- NOT to be confused with later Mozart recordings he made


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## PeterF

My favorite set of Mozart Piano Sonatas is definitely by Gulda. He makes the music really come alive. The other set I especially like is the one by Walter Klien.


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## flamencosketches

Is there any love for Christoph Eschenbach's Mozart sonatas cycle? I always see it at a used shop near me for really cheap. The DG "collectors edition".


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## Bourdon

flamencosketches said:


> Is there any love for Christoph Eschenbach's Mozart sonatas cycle? I always see it at a used shop near me for really cheap. The DG "collectors edition".


 Don't hesitate,it is a fine set with a Mozart not too sweet.


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## starthrower

I bought an expensive Japanese import of Ingrid Haebler's set. It does sound superb and it comes with a nice booklet. But I can't read Japanese.


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## Bourdon

starthrower said:


> I bought an expensive Japanese import of Ingrid Haebler's set. It does sound superb and it comes with a nice booklet. But I can't read Japanese.


I bought this one in Taiwan but it has four languages and none of them is Japanese .


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## starthrower

Didn't she record two cycles of Mozart sonatas? I think I have the later cycle.


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## Bourdon

starthrower said:


> Didn't she record two cycles of Mozart sonatas? I think I have the later cycle.


You must have the Denon recording.


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## starthrower

^^^
That's the one. It's a great sounding set!


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## Rubens

flamencosketches said:


> Is there any love for Christoph Eschenbach's Mozart sonatas cycle? I always see it at a used shop near me for really cheap. The DG "collectors edition".


This is my favorite set. I also own the Barenboim and the Uchida. But I always go back to the Eschenbach.


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## KenOC

I've always had a difficult time with Mozart's piano sonatas. Right now the most satisfactory cycle is the recent one by Fazil Say, which can be previewed in its entirety on *YouTube*.


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## Mandryka

KenOC said:


> I've always had a difficult time with Mozart's piano sonatas. Right now the most satisfactory cycle is the recent one by Fazil Say, which can be previewed in its entirety on *YouTube*.


He decorates the music like a Ukrainian wedding cake.


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## Enthusiast

^ And you can hear him humming along sometimes. Personally, I love it all!


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## starthrower

> I've always had a difficult time with Mozart's piano sonatas.


They tend to drift into the background of ta ta politeness. The Haebler set I have is almost too perfect. I could go for something a bit scrappier and playful if any pianist takes that approach.


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## wkasimer

starthrower said:


> They tend to drift into the background of ta ta politeness. The Haebler set I have is almost too perfect. I could go for something a bit scrappier and playful if any pianist takes that approach.


If you don't mind fortepiano, and if you can find them, Tuija Hakkila's recordings ought to please you. She plays like her hair is on fire.


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## starthrower

I'll give her listen. Thanks!


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## Enthusiast

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## Enthusiast

starthrower said:


> They tend to drift into the background of ta ta politeness. The Haebler set I have is almost too perfect. I could go for something a bit scrappier and playful if any pianist takes that approach.


That's what I used to think and I ignored them for years. But then I found it to be very untrue (to the extent of my now thinking of them as second only to Beethoven's). It may be true of Haebler, though: I haven't listened to her since those days when I didn't think much of the Mozart sonatas. "Scrappier" makes me think you might enjoy Gulda's self-recorded CDs and more playful makes me think of Say.


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## DavidA

wkasimer said:


> If you don't mind fortepiano, and if you can find them, Tuija Hakkila's recordings ought to please you. She plays like her hair is on fire.


Interesting. Gets through it fast to rush to the shower? :lol:


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## starthrower

Enthusiast said:


> That's what I used to think and I ignored them for years. But then I found it to be very untrue (to the extent of my now thinking of them as second only to Beethoven's). It may be true of Haebler, though: I haven't listened to her since those days when I didn't think much of the Mozart sonatas. "Scrappier" makes me think you might enjoy Gulda's self-recorded CDs and more playful makes me think of Say.


I'm sure it's a case of not listening closely. I'll have to sit down with the headphones and get focused. And I have to figure out what I'm listening to since my set is in Japanese with only the catalog numbers which I don't know.


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## Brahmsian Colors

Like some others, I'm not too excited about most of Mozart's Piano Sonatas, but if I had to choose any particular set, I would opt for Haebler and/or Eschenbach


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## Mandryka

starthrower said:


> They tend to drift into the background of ta ta politeness. The Haebler set I have is almost too perfect. I could go for something a bit scrappier and playful if any pianist takes that approach.


Siegfried Mauser.


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## StevenOBrien

Gulda sped up to about 1.25x is my go-to, but I've never really found a performance where I don't have to use a lot of imagination to hear what I want out of it. Lipatti and Yudina do a decent K. 310.

Eschenbach's is nice if you like them played that way. Kempff also does a nice K. 331.

Wim Winter's clavichord renditions are very interesting too (though you need to play them at 2x speed to filter out his stupid ideas about tempi being half as slow as they actually are)


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## tdc

I love the Mozart piano sonatas. My go to performer is Alicia de Larrocha.


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