Who is the best Mozart Interpreter?

[hunkyhong]

i honestly have to say, i haven't heard a single decent recording of mozart sonatas that i enjoyed wholeheartedly. I mean, there are so many pianists who record the entirety of the sonatas, or been dubbed the "authority" on mozart sonatas. But no one really captures the phrasing and musicality of such a refined music. the nuances, the tone and colors, i have yet to hear a good interpretation. But im interested in what you guys think, as well as who you appreciate for mozart.

[gerryjay]

dear hh:
welcome.
about mozart, i agree with you that most recordings lack "something", what sometimes it's even difficult to say what is.
anyway, i really like two versions of the complete cycle. first, and foremost, the one by mitsuko uchida, one of the greatest mozart performers i've ever heard. i think she have all the qualities of tone, expression, virtuosity...anything that mozartian text calls for.
for a contrast, a very idiossincratic version, that however amazes me: gleen gould. probably anything but authentic, but never boring. you'll probably discuss 90% of what he did, but he have a very solid coherence in his interpretation. furthermore, it stands among the bland mozart that were (and are) around.
another great performer of his works (although i don't know if he recorded the whole cycle) is andras schiff.
best!

[thierry13]

for a contrast, a very idiossincratic version, that however amazes me: gleen gould. probably anything but authentic, but never boring. you'll probably discuss 90% of what he did, but he have a very solid coherence in his interpretation.

I was about to mention him! Also, Pogorelich did an amazing job in the ones he played!

[minor9th]

I don't know who's "best", which would be impossible to quantify, but I enjoy Brendel.

[gerryjay]

I don't know who's "best", which would be impossible to quantify, but I enjoy Brendel.

oh, yeap: brendel is always cool!

[thierry13]

I can see by his signature that mr. gerryjay is very much into Mozart right now! Any specefic reasons?

[gerryjay]

dear thierry:

yeap, i'm quite into mozart lately. i have two basic reasons: first (and above all), i really love his music. well, that's obvious... then, i'm working on a rather strange but personal plan of playing everything i want.

my ultimate focus is the graduate course i want to do, but 'til there i need to play recitals, acquire experience from that, and create a varied and interesting portfolio. did you notice the chopin? well, that's my next plan. i know that it's a lot of warhorses and traditional repertory, but my goal is to play a huge selection of that.

ops...too much off-topic...now it's time to go back!

but thanks for asking! i'm very enthusiastic about those recitals and about playing piano for real, after so much time.

best!

[schubertiad]

Haebler. Haebler. Haebler. Hae... you get the idea.

Her cycles of the sonatas and concertos (she did 2 of each) are absolutely brilliant. A few of the sonatas are taken a bit slowly (k.310 sounds pretty tame), but her phrasing, touch and articulation are just breathtaking.

[faulty_damper]

Haebler. Haebler. Haebler. Hae... you get the idea.

Her cycles of the sonatas and concertos (she did 2 of each) are absolutely brilliant. A few of the sonatas are taken a bit slowly (k.310 sounds pretty tame), but her phrasing, touch and articulation are just breathtaking.

What I find most disturbing with so many pianists who play Mozart is that they often have one articulation and paste it to everything.  Glenn Gould is very obvious in this aspect but also other well-known pianists like Brendel, Uchida, et al.  So in instances when a phrase or motive requires a different articulation to project the change in mood, and they fail to do it, the music is lost.

I have recently realized that I actually like the music Mozart wrote.  Before, I neither liked it nor did I appreciate it.  It was inexpressive music..  Then recently, something changed.  I realized that the recordings I have listened to and live performances were all inaccurate representations.  And in fact, his music is actually quite expressive and it spanned the entire range.  That's when I looked at the music and started to play it.  I finally understood it.  After several years of "I don't get it" I finally got it!  It wasn't the music that was bad, it was the interpreters playing it like finger exercises.

I find my own interpretations of Mozart's music to be superior to any other pianist I've heard.

[general disarray]

Haebler. Haebler. Haebler. Hae... you get the idea.

Her cycles of the sonatas and concertos (she did 2 of each) are absolutely brilliant. A few of the sonatas are taken a bit slowly (k.310 sounds pretty tame), but her phrasing, touch and articulation are just breathtaking.

Ditto!  Never heard better Mozart playing.

I know you people are going to cream me for this, but I feel that much of the Mozart solo piano work is quite inferior to his symphonies, concerti, early and middle period chamber works, and, of course, the operas, which are titanic masterpieces.

Don't you find it interesting that so many great pianists fail to pull off these sonatas?  Might it not be that many of the solo keyboard works lack the genius of his other works??  That there's not all that much to "express" in some of them to begin with?  Not ALL Mozart is great.  The late Prussian string quartets, for example, are not particularly ground-breaking or memorable, though they are pleasant enough.


p.s.  thierry13, I just know you're going to pounce, but before you do, I really do know that Joyce Hatto's recordings are fakes.   

[thierry13]

p.s.  thierry13, I just know you're going to pounce, but before you do, I really do know that Joyce Hatto's recordings are fakes.   

What's with hatto? That was in another thread! 

[general disarray]

What's with hatto? That was in another thread! 

You didn't pounce!  God bless your socks.  Someone else will, though.

Yeh, Hatto was in another thread but Haebler came up and it was HER recordings that Hatto's husband ripped off.  That's how I discovered Haebler, who's a genius with Mozart.

For a complete list of pianists who were "Hatto-ized," check this link:

https://www.andrys.com/hatto.html#news

[dan101]

Murray Periah certainly ranks as first rate with me... and not only in Mozart, of course.

[thierry13]

You didn't pounce!  God bless your socks.  Someone else will, though.

Thanks, now my socks are way more comfortable 

[cygnusdei]

Murray Periah certainly ranks as first rate with me... and not only in Mozart, of course.

Did you mean Marie Pariah? nyuk nyuk nyuk ....

For Mozart piano sonatas, I recommend the complete set by Klara Würtz.

[gerryjay]

Did you mean Marie Pariah? nyuk nyuk nyuk ....

very interesting that you write that, because for some time i thought he was a she called marie, since i knew him through the bbc radio 3 broadcasts... it was so frustrating not finding any information on the net about that magnificent pianist...
best!

[cherub_rocker1979]

Try Malcolm Bilson, he teaches at Cornell and he's quite an authority on this kind of music.

[hunkyhong]

thanks for replying, guys.
i have heard all the artists that you guys mentioned. Uchida's concerto's are definitely better than her sonatas. But if you have an oppertunity, i would DEFINITELY advise you guys to listen to Brendel's interpretation of Mozart concerto in A major, KV.414 no. 12.
It's the BEST recording that absolutely fits my ideal mozart interpretation. It has the sound, the phrasing, the lines and all the voices. It is delicate, but characteristic. its the BEST recording. check it out!

[gerryjay]

forget about all those pianists mentioned. look at that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV4ISDTnRLM

please, notice the accurate trill on the end!

best!

[invictious]

For me it is Mitsuko Uchida.
This recording speaks for itself:

It is so..bewitching, enchanting.

Bewitching because she looks like a witch in that video

[franzliszt2]

In my opinion, the greatest Mozart I have ever heard is the recording of the double concerto with Radu Lupu, and Murray Perahia. That was a real revelation to me when I heard it. I think that is a must have in all pianists cd collection.

I also love Perahias concerto's a lot.

I have heard a lot of good things from Uchida as well.

[general disarray]

forget about all those pianists mentioned. look at that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV4ISDTnRLM

please, notice the accurate trill on the end!

best!

HA!  Thrillin' trillin'!   Compared to this virtuosity, Brendel, Uchida are all just wrong numbers.

[halleluhwah]

CLARA HASKIL - recorded more concertos than sonatas

'you must hear Clara play Mozart. Then you will realize how far the rest of us are from the truth' Dinu Lipatti

Dinu Lipatti also described her playing as “the sum of all perfection on earth,” Wilhelm Backhaus called it “the most beautiful in the world,” Tatyana Nikoleyeva burst into tears when she first heard Haskil, and Rudolf Serkin nicknamed her “the perfect Clara.”

try lili kraus also, she recorded the complete mozart sonatas

[thierry13]

In my opinion, the greatest Mozart I have ever heard is the recording of the double concerto with Radu Lupu, and Murray Perahia. That was a real revelation to me when I heard it. I think that is a must have in all pianists cd collection.

You got it! For me the revelation was when I heard them play the sonata for two pianos in D major. I actually discovered I loved Mozart when I listened to that recording! It was pure magic.

[teresa_b]

What I find most disturbing with so many pianists who play Mozart is that they often have one articulation and paste it to everything.  Glenn Gould is very obvious in this aspect but also other well-known pianists like Brendel, Uchida, et al.  So in instances when a phrase or motive requires a different articulation to project the change in mood, and they fail to do it, the music is lost.

I have recently realized that I actually like the music Mozart wrote.  Before, I neither liked it nor did I appreciate it.  It was inexpressive music..  Then recently, something changed.  I realized that the recordings I have listened to and live performances were all inaccurate representations.  And in fact, his music is actually quite expressive and it spanned the entire range.  That's when I looked at the music and started to play it.  I finally understood it.  After several years of "I don't get it" I finally got it!  It wasn't the music that was bad, it was the interpreters playing it like finger exercises.

I find my own interpretations of Mozart's music to be superior to any other pianist I've heard.

Please post some of your Mozart on the Audition Room.
Teresa

[antoinedoinel]

what about this?

https://www.onclassical.com/artists/luisi/sonatas-a/

[antoinedoinel]

what about this?

https://www.onclassical.com/artists/luisi/sonatas-a/

no answers? no news?

[thierry13]

no answers? no news?

No. Good representation of style, displayed with poor musicality and weak energy.

[antoinedoinel]

thank you thierry13. i really admired the luisi's precision in touching the piano keys. he has great technique in my opinion. listen to his bach: it's really impressive! i don't know the exact link now but it's very easy foundable through the main site

https://onclassical.com

[jannismakris]

I quite enjoy listening to the interpretations of Maria Joao Pires.

[aslanov]

why hasnt anyone mentioned horowitz?
I asked my piano teacher what's horowitz good for, and she said, above all else, Scarlatti and Mozart.

[jbb]

I actually enjoyed Horowitz's Mozart concerto and sonata performances from the 1980s.  However, I would say that de Larrocha has provided some of the finest interpretations, and recorded all (or nearly all) of the sonatas, and all the major concertos.  Her whistle-clean technique, strong pulse, and straightforwardness (a quality she had been criticized for in some romantic playing) work very well in Mozart.

[anne126]

Glenn Gould.

Mozart needs exaggerating.

[twiltot]

andrass schiff

[twiltot]

András Schiff

[communist]

Haefliger

[tanman]

Glenn Gould.

&feature=related

beat that
 

[birba]

Oh, please.

[lohshuhan]

uchida and perahia has my vote here. 

[sjs42]

Haebler or Alicia de la Rocha. Uchida makes for frenzied sounding music. Whether fast or slow I prefer Mozart to be upbeat without being rushed. Ms. Haebler has an amazing touch with her staccato. Ms. de la Rocha has a left hand sound that just melts me.
Mr. Perahia just makes all the music he plays sound awful. It's hard to believe he's at the piano and not some strange machine.
I love G. Gould playing Bach. Enough said.

[slow_concert_pianist]

Mozart, I would presume but I don't possess any recordings.

Any offers?

[orpheus0006]

I remember listening to Wilhelm Bachaus' recordings of Mozart when I was younger
and learning from his performances. I believe his performances to be attentive to details
and therefore an "academic" approach to Mozart's piano music. 

[sjs42]

I forgot to mention Geza Anda. His recording of the 2nd movement of Mozart's 1st piano concerto is unique in its ability to stir one's soul.

[liordavid]

glenn gould by fffffffaaaaaarrrrr

[birba]

He said he didn't like Mozart.  Could never figure out why he would record him.

[vviola]

He was just a liar, that's all.

[john11inc]

Damerini and Uchida.

[vviola]

Damerini

Who? I can't find any Mozart CDs by this person. Unless you don't mean Massimiliano Damerini? Unless you don't mean interpretation in performance?

[john11inc]

Who? I can't find any Mozart CDs by this person. Unless you don't mean Massimiliano Damerini? Unless you don't mean interpretation in performance?

No?

https://www.preludiomusic.com/pr/massimiliano-damerini-cd-w-a-mozart-klaviersonaten-k284-332-333-2006-210-pr.htm

He's also recorded a lot of Mozart's chamber music and another set of Sonatas, although I can't find that CD for sale any more.  But if you actually bother(ed) to look for it, you'll find various parts of it online for download.

[theodore]

Please listen to this recording of the Mozart Sonata K 333 – the finale as done by an older pianist turned conductor: Christoph  Eschenbach

Tell me of any likes or dislikes as I am currently practicing this movement.

PL&index=50

Theodore

PS sorry for the long URL address