Mozart: Piano Sonata No. 17 in B flat major, K570

SFZ Music, the independent label for His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts, are pleased to announce their latest release, a recording given by one of the finest scholar-performers currently working in Britain.

John Irving is an internationally recognised Mozart scholar, having written five books including the international best-selling 'The Treasures of Mozart', and also widely acclaimed as one of the finest interpreters of keyboard music from the early classical period.

'Mozart on the Hass Clavichord' is a programme showcasing the wonderful instrument by Johann Adolph Hass (1715-76) made in Hamburg in 1763 and currently residing in the Edinburgh University Collection of Historic Musical Instruments.

Irving explores in detail historical performance practice issues, as well as reminding us that the Clavichord remained a favoured instrument for Mozart throughout his life, and accenting the intimate, domestic nature of his keyboard music.

When he was eight years old Mozart wrote a series of duo sonatas sanctioned for violin or fl ute and keyboard. Written in London, they were dedicated to Queen Charlotte. The sonatas performed on this disc were written much later for violin but, using that earlier precedent, have been transcribed for fl ute by one of the world’s greatest exponents of the instrument, Patrick Gallois. Memorably tuneful, they represent different stages of Mozart’s development and are beautifully suited to their new guise.

Beautiful performances of Mozart’s late piano sonatas by the world renowned Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires. The recordings originally appeared on the Denon label in the 1970s and are now available from Regis at super-budget price.

'Pires has always been something of a Mozart specialist, and her playing is tasteful and cleanly articulated, the lyrical melodies sensitively shaped, the passage work fluent and even. Nothing she does is ever harsh or graceless.' Gramophone

Fortepiano phenomenon Kristian Bezuidenhout begins his multi-volume traversal of Mozart’s music for solo keyboard.

Volume 1 features an instrument by Derek Adlam modeled on an original by Gabriel Anton Walter of the type Mozart owned in Vienna. Kristian Bezuidenhout studied with Rebecca Penneys, Malcolm Bilson and Paul O’Dette. He first gained international recognition at the age of 21 after winning the prestigious first prize as well as the audience prize in the Bruges Fortepiano Competition (2001), a double honour, this being only the third time the former prize has been awarded in the history of the competition. Bezuidenhout is a frequent guest artist with the world’s leading ensembles and he now has a standing duo with the baroque violinist Petra Müllejans, artistic director of the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra; their first CD, a disc of Mozart Violin Sonatas, was released on harmonia mundi USA in the Spring of 2009. Highlights of past seasons have included a complete cycle of the late Mozart Piano Concertos and the Beethoven Piano Concertos (Amsterdam Concertgebouw) with the Orchestra of the 18th Century under Frans Bruggen. Plans for the future include concerts with the Orchestre des Champs Elysées under Philippe Herreweghe; a Mendelssohn project with the Freiburger Baroque Orchestra and Gottfried von der Goltz; a tour with Les Arts Florissants; trio concerts with Viktoria Mullova & Pieter Wispelwey and more recordings for harmonia mundi.

Andras Schiff said of Horszowski’s Chopin: ‘It’s as though he had written the music himself. It’s unbelievably unpredictable, and yet it’s completely natural, and comes from within the composition. I learned a great deal about rubato from Horszowski, because he uses it in a way that’s like Chopin must have done: he never loses the pulse, and yet it’s played with great freedom.’

Following his critically acclaimed first release for Avie of Mozart Sonatas (AV 0025), Andreas Haefliger delivers the first in a series of recital recordings that pleases and provokes in equal measure. Perspectives 1 replicates one of Haefliger's recital programmes which he has toured internationally. Underpinned by Haefliger’s hallmark Austro-Germanic repertoire – works by Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert – he tantalizing includes Thomas Adès’ austere Darknesse Visible, which the composer describes as “an explosion of John Dowland’s lute song In Darknesse Let Mee Dwell.”

”Evidence of fingers exceptionally vigorous, nimble and purposeful." BBC Music Magazine

“He plays with a light, sparkling touch and singing melodies, with tasteful and unexaggerated expression." Fanfare

For more than ten years Gottlieb Wallisch has captivated audiences from many of the world’s major concert platforms with his playing. Wallisch’s debut on Linn Records, ‘Mozart in Vienna’, features a selection of Mozart’s best-loved works, all composed in Vienna during one of the composer’s most fruitful periods: 1781-1791.

Wallisch expertly demonstrates Mozart’s quintessential style: his skill at improvisation (Fantasie KV 397), his humour (Variationen KV 455) and his more intimate, melancholic side (Rondo KV 511).

Two of Mozart’s finest sonatas are also included and they allow Gottlieb to display his deep understanding of the music of his fellow Austrian, as well as his impressive technical and interpretative skills.

The Viennese pianist has performed this repertoire internationally to great acclaim: “Wallisch proved himself to be an exceptional performer of Mozart” (Neue Ruhr Zeitung).

Recorded in St George’s, Bristol, which is regarded as one of the best chamber venues in Britain, Gottlieb gives a stylish and individual performance of some of Mozart’s finest piano works.

Born into a family of Viennese musicians, Gottlieb Wallisch is a competition prizewinner and a respected artist in the Viennese piano tradition.

Gottlieb Wallisch has performed with many leading orchestras including Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. He has performed at prestigious London venues Wigmore Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Gottlieb participated in the international cycle "Rising Stars" and gave solo recitals in many European capitals as well as New York’s Carnegie Hall.

This recording of Mozart's Piano Sonatas was the esteemed pianist Andreas Haefliger's first for Avie. Hailing from one of Europe’s musically elite families, Haefliger’s music background has firmly steeped him in the Austro-Germanic tradition. His intellectual interpretations of the music of Mozart, Beethoven and Schumann have been noted for his acute sensitivity and breathtaking technical precision.