Mozart: Allegro in Bb major, KV372

The final two volumes in this benchmark survey of Mozart’s complete music for Keyboard and Violin, released together at a special priced 2 disc set.

‘(… ) So, my lasting impression, having dissected every note of the music, is of a cornucopia of hidden gems; hidden because history has under-rated, misunderstood and bowdlerized the collective meaning of these works by assuming that it is an uneven genre – but then so are the symphonies and even the operas! Finally, one asks why there hasn’t previously been a complete recording on historical instruments. From my ‘privileged’ position as listener-inchief, I can tell you it is because no pair can make such transparent and difficult music sound so effortless, elegant, witty, emotionally persuasive and enjoyable.’ Jonathan Freeman- Attwood, producer

It is particularly felicitous that Shumsky and Balsam, both very experienced chamber musicians, should have come together to record Mozart’s music for violin and piano. Their respective musical personalities, though very different, complemented each other, Shumsky’s bold lyricism illuminating Balsam’s stylish and fluent approach. Their playing is notable for its spontaneity, alertness and authority; note Shumsky’s deftly varied inflections when repeating the variations in the second movement of K377, the liberating sense of vitality in the first movement of K526 and both players’ sympathetic, clear-eyed approach to the Sonata in F, K547 and the two sets of variations. In all these works the interpreters’ mature artistry is completely at the service of the music.

Sviatoslav Richter was born in 1915 and died in August 1997. He was a Soviet pianist, widely recognised as one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century. He was well known for the depth of his interpretations, virtuoso technique and extensive repertoire. In March 1934, Richter gave his first recital in his home town of Odessa. He did not start formal piano studies until three years later, with Heinrich Neuhaus, a famous pianist and piano teacher at the Moscow Conservatoire. During Richter's audition for Neuhaus, the teacher apparently whispered to a fellow student 'this man's a genius'. Although Neuhaus taught many great pianists, including Emil Gilels and Radu Lupu, it is said that he considered Richter to be 'the genius pupil' for whom he had been waiting all his life. The West first became aware of Richter through recordings he made in the 1950s. One of Richter's first advocates in the West was Emil Gilels, who stated during his first tour of the United States that the critics, who were giving Gilels rave reviews, should 'wait until you hear Richter'. Sviatoslav Richter (who had received the Stalin and Lenin prizes and became People's Artist of the RSFSR), gave his first concert tours in the USA in 1960 and in Britain and France in 1961. While Richter enjoyed performing in front of an audience, he hated planning concerts years in advance, and in later years took to playing at very short notice in small, quite often darkened halls, with only a small lamp lighting the score. Richter claimed that this setting helped the audience focus on the music being performed, rather than on extraneous and irrelevant matters such as the performer's grimaces and gestures. Richter's repertoire ranged from Handel and Bach to Szymanowski, Berg, Webern, Stravinsky, Bartók, Hindemith, Britten, and Gershwin. Central to his repertoire were the works of all the composers who are represented in this Icon set.