Mozart Keyboard Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Label: L'Oiseau-Lyre
Magazine Review Date: 5/1992
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 433 328-4OH

Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Sonata for Piano No. 16 |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
András Schiff, Fortepiano Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
Sonata for Piano No. 17 |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
András Schiff, Fortepiano Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
Rondo |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
András Schiff, Fortepiano Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
Minuet |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
András Schiff, Fortepiano Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
Fantasia |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
András Schiff, Fortepiano Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
Gigue |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
András Schiff, Fortepiano Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
Andante für eine Walze in eine kleine Orgel |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
András Schiff, Fortepiano Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
Composer or Director: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Label: L'Oiseau-Lyre
Magazine Review Date: 5/1992
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 71
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 433 328-2OH

Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Sonata for Piano No. 16 |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
András Schiff, Fortepiano Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
Sonata for Piano No. 17 |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
András Schiff, Fortepiano Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
Rondo |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
András Schiff, Fortepiano Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
Minuet |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
András Schiff, Fortepiano Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
Fantasia |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
András Schiff, Fortepiano Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
Gigue |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
András Schiff, Fortepiano Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
Andante für eine Walze in eine kleine Orgel |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
András Schiff, Fortepiano Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
Author: Stanley Sadie
Of the two sonatas, I think K570 comes off slightly better, with some fine playing in the pensive Adagio and many good things in the first movement, though the finale, which he plays very heartily, would perhaps have responded better to a more delicate, carefully timed approach. The finale of K545 I found difficult to take, with these 'pecked' staccatos in its main theme and so little natural flow, while the Andante is curiously cool, almost mechanical; but the famous first movement is happily done. The dynamic management of the melancholy K511 Rondo seems to me misjudged, its contrasts so marked that some of the music seems almost as if parenthesized; no proper norm is established. And the other Rondo, K485, which surely ought to ''flow like oil'' (Mozart's own phrase, though not of this work), is often held back or pressed forward, in fact rhythmically unstable—a piece that ought to be graceful comes out rather awkwardly. The K355 Minuet, too, might have responded better to a less sharply articulated manner; its chromaticisms and dissonances suggest a quite different expressive ambience.
I have perhaps been rather severe on a disc that contains much that is appealing and musically penetrating. But Schiff demands to be judged by the very highest standards. The performances do, to my mind, betray a player who is not really attuned, by long experience, to the type of instrument he is using, and I hope that the Mozart Stiftung will make this fortepiano available for recording by others more committed and more habituated to fortepiano playing (there has in fact been a recording with Robert Levin). But for all these reservations I would not hesitate to advise Mozartians to listen to this disc, both for the instrument itself and for the insights that Schiff has to offer.'
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