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Musings on Mozart Recordings.

October 12, 2006 at 3:25 PM

My wonderful fiance is a pianist so since we've been together I've been discovering heaps of new piano repertoire which has been wonderful. One of the wonderful things I've been rediscovering is the piano concertos of an old favourite...W.A. Mozart. They really are amazing!

And of course there are many different ways of playing them...from Robert Levin on the fortepiano to a heavily romanticised version with a brick on the sustain pedal.

So...in discovering them I've stumbled across a couple of names (well...I knew them before but they've stuck out for me in this genre) Murray Perahia and Mitsuko Uchida.

Both of these players seem to have everything that makes me want to quit my job and just sit at home all day everyday with a cup of green tea and my cd player. Gorgeous sound, exquisite phrasing and timing to die for.

It's been such a refreshing experience that I've been inspired to go back to the piano (I used to play for about 10 years) but I fear I'll always be dissapointed in that respect.

As it turns out, these two performers seem to have recordings of Mozart that most pianists consider as benchmark performances and I can certainly see why.

So I started to look through our CDs for the Mozart violin concertos which yeilded a rather disapointing result. We have a few recordings which are all good in their different ways but none of which made me feel the same way as the aforementioned piano clan.

This got me thinking...which recordings are considered the benchmark recordings for the violin concertos? Of course there are many many styles in which violinists play mozart from the "historically informed" mob to those who feel mozart like Tchaikovsky.

Having not listened to the vast majority of recordings of Mozart violin concertos it's difficult to pick which one to buy next (unfortunately my funds don't stretch to just buying them all).

I figure that most people reading this would have opinions on the topic and I'd love to hear all of them!

Thoughtfully,
Graeme

From Scott 68
Posted on October 12, 2006 at 8:59 PM

i love murray perahia!

check gidon kremer's dvd of the mozart violin concertos

From Scott 68
Posted on October 12, 2006 at 9:02 PM

for recordings i like grumiaux, would love to hear the ehnes recordings

From Karin Lin
Posted on October 12, 2006 at 9:05 PM

Murray Perahia is wonderful. Congrats on having discovered him!

I personally like Isaac Stern's recording of the Mozart concerti, though I haven't heard any of the old masters' versions.

From Amy F.
Posted on October 12, 2006 at 10:12 PM

frank peter zimmermann's set is a standard

From George Philips
Posted on October 13, 2006 at 6:58 AM

f you want an interesitng one, check out Andrew Manze's recording with the English Consort.

From Emily Grossman
Posted on October 13, 2006 at 5:38 PM

I used Manze's cadenza. It's tasteful.

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