Who is the best Mozart Interpreter?

[sjeon]

Horowitz and Eschenbach

[vviola]

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.

No, I didn't really bother, I figured you would find it for me. Thanks. Do you know if the Schubert recordings are any good?

[john11inc]

No, I didn't really bother, I figured you would find it for me. Thanks. Do you know if the Schubert recordings are any good?

You should find out for yourself.

[jcabraham]

Malcolm Bilson. Christian (Christoph?) Immerseel. Go fortepiano!

[pocho]

I love Gieseking.

[vviola]

Malcolm Bilson. Christian (Christoph?) Immerseel. Go fortepiano!

Two good suggestions! The sonatas also sound quite nice on a clavichord, though I'm not sure anyone has recorded them on one yet.

[vviola]

The Alexei Lubimov recordings on fortepiano are also worth looking for.

[rmbarbosa]

Do you Know Maria João Pires? Not only with Mozart but also Chopin? She is amazing, perhaps the best I know. Have a look in you tube. Or, better, buy one of her CDs. I would like to know what you think about her.

[steinwayb]

Another vote for Uchida. Her version of the sonatas, and the concertos, exhibit pure egoless poaying.

[rmbarbosa]

Maria João Pires surely is one of the bests.

[si987654321]

There is a wonderful pianist Natalia Pushkantser, some of the works in her performance can be heard on www.YouTube.com, including the sonata by Mozart. But a concert of Mozart N20 on this site:
https://www.stapravda.ru/projects/afisha/cantabile/music.shtml

[simonjp90]

HOWARD SHELLEY BY A MILE!!! obviously!

[ennodio]

Claudio Arrau, always and forever

[birba]

Do you Know Maria João Pires? Not only with Mozart but also Chopin? She is amazing, perhaps the best I know. Have a look in you tube. Or, better, buy one of her CDs. I would like to know what you think about her.

Among living pianists, definitely the top mozart (and not only) interpreter.

[pianisten1989]

Lang Lang.

[mmcquillen]

Australian great pianist Gil Sullivan ("The finest interpreter of Mozart in the world" - Südhessen Woche, Germany)

Mozart's Sonata in B flat - K498a (First Movement)

[scherzo123]

Horowitz and Uchida

[stiefel]

I love a recording on Youtube of Daniil Trifonov playing concerto 23 in A.  Trifonov makes Mozart sound very delicate, feminine, and almost pathetic.  Part of me thinks Trifonov goes a little over the top with the femininity, but part of me absolutely loves it!!!!  It sounds so satisfied and calm --  almost the opposite of Horowitz's version.

Here is Trifonov:

[maestro57]

I will chime in and say Mitsuko Uchida.

[worov]

Definitely Mitusko Uchida.

Lili Kraus is a close second :

[awesom_o]

My vote would go to Wanda Landowska:

The little improvisations and the cadenza at the end are totally how I imagine Mozart might have played it himself.

[bubffm]

Maria Joao Pires. By a mile. Haebler is also ver nice. I find Uchida pretty boring in the sonatas also I like her in other repertoire.

[casey3040]

Uchida plays with so much expression and emotion. Very good player, but with several pieces, maybe a little too much. Gould should stick with Bach. Horowitz is a classic, and has the technical parts of mozart down, but seems to lack what Uchida has. Schiff is a lot like Uchida, so both get my vote. Emmanuel Ax has a great interpretation as well. Lang Lang plays Mozart OK....he plays in a musical childish way, which fits some of Mozarts pieces, but not all. Valentina Lisitsa has an OK interpretation. Overall my top favorites are: Uchida, Ax, and Schiff.

[birba]

Maria Joao Pires. By a mile. Haebler is also ver nice. I find Uchida pretty boring in the sonatas also I like her in other repertoire.

I wholeheartedly agree.  Pires is tops.  Uchida is boring, but a camp to watch.

[watercooler]

uchida!

[lelle]

I really like Ronald Brautigam playing on fortepiano

[pianoman53]

I love Lili Kraus and Edwin Fischer. They have a bit different approach than modern pianists, so if one hears if for the first time, it might sound strange. Though, once I got used to it, I found it highly  superior to today's porsilin versions.

[danhuyle]

Just for Mozart Sonatas, I like Andreas Schiff's rendition of this set. The clarity and artistry of his playing... WOW.

Other Mozart pieces, I don't know.

[rmbarbosa]

Maria João Pires.

[ade16]

Brendel for me in terms of Mozart and Beethoven!!! Have been to several of his recitals over the years, as well as being very familiar with many of his recordings.

This is always going to be highly subjective!!!  

[beethovenopus2no3movt2]

Guilda

[birba]

Well, that's either Gilda or Gulda.  Can't you just imagine rita hayworth tearing into the 3rd movement of k.488?

[j_menz]

Can't you just imagine rita hayworth tearing into the 3rd movement of k.488?

Now that you mention it. Ravishing.  

[birba]

Wonderful!!!!   

[transitional]

Schnabel's not known for Mozart, but that's my pick.

And Wurtz, those recordings have powerful simplicity.

[lelle]

Schnabel's not known for Mozart, but that's my pick.

Those oldschool pianists don't play "correct" Mozart by today's standard, but they got a certain spirit that I often miss today.

[cuberdrift]

I personally enjoy Ludwog Semerjian's recordings on a period fortepiano.

Not only does the instrument reframe your perspective on the music, Semerjian decides to play in an appropriately fleet footed way.

For me, these renditions might be the closest to how Mozart could have sounded.

[smalem]

The immortal Clara Haskil, Emil Gilels and Sir Clifford Curzon were all superb Mozart pianists but didn't - to my knowledge - record complete sets of concerti or sonatas. 

[bachapprentice]

Glenn Gould except for the D minor Fantasia.