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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 17 & 27
Angela Hewitt turns to two of Mozart’s greatest and most popular concertos for her latest album. Together with her frequent collaborators, the Orchestra da Camera di Mantova and brilliant Finnish conductor Hannu Lintu, she presents these works in performances which are both elegantly stylish and profoundly felt. This release is completed by a personal reflection on the music by Hewitt herself in the accompanying booklet. “[the Presto of K453] is brilliantly done, anmd this is a brilliant performance all round.” International Record Review, May 2013 “The sound is wonderfully clean and focused, with an ideal balance between Hewitt’s customary Fazioli piano and the orchestra...a Mozart release to cherish.” The Telegraph, 10th May 2013 | 
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| |  | Clifford Curzon plays Mozart & SchubertRecorded live at the Royal Albert Hall & Usher Hall, September 1961
The performance of the Impromptus, D.899, heard here, confirms Curzon’s place as one of the great Schubert players of his generation. Indeed, the audience was so impressed that they couldn’t help applauding between each Impromptu. Not only does Curzon manage to play with a range of emotion, from limpid tenderness to controlled aggression, but his attention to the sound he produces from the piano never fails to impress. This was one of Curzon’s most salient attributes; for him the sound he made at the keyboard was paramount and it is his combination of cerebral interpretation, no doubt acquired in part from two years study with Artur Schnabel, coupled with his acute attention to sound, that made Curzon such a unique pianist. Listening to the first Impromptu one can hear that it is not just the beauty of sound that Curzon is concerned with, but the balance between the hands, parts and voices, and the way the harmony of the left hand supports Schubert’s glorious melodies. Indeed, it is good to have Curzon in a live performance of this work as, although he recorded a short studio recital of works by Liszt and Schubert for the BBC in December 1961, he omitted the first and most substantial Impromptu playing only the last three. One of the highlights of the 1961 Edinburgh Festival was Curzon’s performance of Mozart’s last Piano Concerto, K.595 in B flat. He later travelled to London to perform the work again at the Proms and it is this performance that is heard on this CD. Curzon is supported by the London Philharmonic Orchestra with Sir Adrian Boult, who had not appeared at the Proms since 1958. The orchestral playing is at once smooth and elegant with string and wind playing beautifully shaped and phrased by the conductor, matching Curzon’s style to perfection. |
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| |  | Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 24 & 27
Alessio Bax follows his 2012 Brahms release with a new concerto recording of piano concertos K.491 and K.595 by Mozart, performed with the Southbank Sinfonia under Simon Over. The Italian-born pianist Alessio Bax is a first-prize winner at the Leeds and Hamamatsu international piano competitions and a 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient. This is his fourth recording with Signum. “Bax and Over play the opening 'Allegro' burdened with darkness, something that is intensified by a recording that is heavy in its textures...As he shows in his deft handling of the Variations on 'Come un agnello', Bax is more than capable of wit.” International Record Review, May 2013 |
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| |  | Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 27 & 20
The sublime results were worth the wait: after forty years of collaboration, Maria João Pires and Maestro Claudio Abbado record two of Mozart’s most beloved piano concertos for the very first time. Maria João Pires weaves dark, dramatic strains into the miraculous luminosity of the D minor Concerto No.20, K.466 with a simplicity that makes her Mozart supreme. She then bestows a glowing majesty upon Mozart’s last piano concerto, the serene Concerto No.27 K. 595 in B flat major, as only an artist of her gifts and profound experience can. Orchestra Mozart and Maestro Abbado support Pires with translucent sound and immaculate style: an exceptional encounter between two musical giants of our time. “From the first moment, the performance has a quality that characterizes the entire recording: a perfect balance between musical, textural and rhythmic precision and all of the mood and atmosphere that the music requires” International Record Review, December 2012 “[K595] has a strange, veiled, ethereal quality, an air of difference from the others, well brought out by Pires, with Abbado and his fine players. By contrast, the opening of the D minor sounds rather tame...The other two movements are much more convincing.” Sunday Times, 16th December 2012 “The conducting is intelligently alive, in quality reminiscent of Benjamin Britten...Pires enters into the prevailing mood, her artistry as thougthful as yore...Pires shows that expressive sensitivity isn't confined to a slow tempo...Reduced forces might have enhanced the concerto's intimate character. It's a small point. These absorbing, penetrating performances deserve the widest currency.” Gramophone Magazine, January 2013 “it is the autumnal Concerto No. 27...that is perhaps better suited to the understated poetic eloquence of Maria Joao Pires's playing than the more overtly dramatic Concerto No. 20...Abbado and his Orchestra Mozart offer fine support in both Concertos, and the performances as a whole have an elegance that cannot fail to give pleasure.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2013 **** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Barenboim plays Mozart Piano ConcertosLive recording from the Siemens-Villa, Berlin, 1986 – 1989
The Grammy award-winning pianist Daniel Barenboim, long known for his Mozart interpretations, turns his attention to Mozart's last 8 piano concertos. The music of Mozart has quite literally been an essential driving force of Daniel Barenboim’s entire life. It remains central to his performing career both as a pianist and as a conductor. These illuminating performances of Mozart’s last eight great piano concertos admirably demonstrate Barenboim’s dictum that even when a true musician has already performed a familiar work hundreds of times, he or she ‘never accepts that the next note will be played the same way as it was played before.’ This production was directed by George Moorse, Jean-Pierre Ponnelle and Klaas Rusticus. Digitally remastered from 35mm film. New Release on Euroarts's new sub-label: Recorded Excellence – Historical Value. The aim of the new series is to make accessible to music lovers and collectors top-quality recordings documenting extra-special concert performances that were hitherto unreleased or were no longer available, either for the first time or as re-releases on DVD and Blu-ray Disc. The main focus is on artists and repertoire. The new series will showcase defining concert moments of music history. Directors: George Moorse, Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, Klaas Rusticus Picture format DVD: NTSC 16:9 Sound format DVD: PCM Stereo Region code: 0 Booklet notes: English, German, French Running time: 264 mins “these are impeccably presented and beautifully rendered performances” BBC Music Magazine, October 2012 ***** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos 20, 21, 23 & 27 & Rondo K382
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| |  | Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 27
Without question, Dame Mitsuko Uchida is recognized as among the greatest Mozart interpreters of our time. On her latest disc she continues her series of Mozart concerto recordings with the Cleveland Orchestra, performing two of the composer’s most popular concerti: No.20 (K.466) & No.27 (K.595). Distinctly different from her first recordings of these works, these new recordings see her directing the orchestra from the keyboard, in line with performances of Mozart’s day. ‘Mitsuko Uchida, directing Mozart concertos from the Steinway, and doing so with such ease and infectious pleasure in making music... who wants (or needs) a separate conductor?” The Chicago Tribune commented. “[Uchida is] subtle and highly polished, never drawing attention to her virtuosity and erring on the side of understatement....Despite the profound intimacy with which she imbues both concertos, there is passion too when required...I cannot recall hearing these works performed with this degree of intimacy and subtlety.” International Record Review, March 2011 “Nothing could be more tenderly touching than No 27’s slow movement...the Cleveland Orchestra (directed from the keyboard) brood and explode on cue.” The Times, 12th February 2011 *** “Decades after she first recorded these concertos with the English Chamber Orchestra, Uchida is recording them again, this time with the Cleveland Orchestra. All the things that made the first recording treasurable are there: the pearly, immaculate tone, the needlepoint precision, the graceful phrasing. The orchestra, too, is on terrific form.” The Telegraph, 11th February 2011 **** “where others opt for Beethovenian struggle [in K466], she conveys, to a degree unmatched in my experience, a sense of sorrow, an almost harrowing sadness, underlining the tragedy of the work without vitiating its drama. This she does with a probing subtlety that defies concise description and sets this interpretation apart from any other known to me.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2011 ***** “[Uchida is] capable of eliciting a kaleidoscope of moods and orchestral colours...[her] poignant and beautifully expressive performance is beautifully balanced by the orchestra's illuminating accompaniment...Wonderfully fluent and effortlessly brilliant from orchestra and soloist.” Classic FM Magazine, April 2011 ***** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 24-27
A special 2-CD set comprising Mozart's late piano concertos in stylish and masterly interpretations from Alicia de Larrocha. Released as a tribute to the great Spanish pianist Alicia de Larrocha who recorded for Decca for over twenty years from 1969, and who died on 25 September 2009. Concertos 24 & 26 (recorded in March 1985) receive their first ever release and this has been made possible with the co-operation of both Alicia de Larrocha's family and the estate of Sir Georg Solti. Concertos 25 & 27 (recorded in December 1977) receive their first international CD release. CD booklet contains an appreciation of Alicia de Larrocha A Born Mozartian by piano expert Jeremy Siepmann. “it would be a strange person indeed who did not submit to such warm-hearted, unmannered Mozart....Larrocha's pearly toned, lightly pedalled touch and the way she can taper a phrase ending to resemble musical speech (try the opening of K491) make these accounts ones to live with.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2011 | | | (Sorry, download not available in your country) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 27
Since his international debut as an astonishing child prodigy in the early 1980s, Evgeny Kissin has matured into one of the finest piano virtuosos of the age. His phenomenal keyboard technique and impeccable artistry continue to astound and amaze audiences and critics alike, leading The Washington Post to call Kissin “one of the world’s greatest artists”. Kissin continues his fruitful relationship with EMI Classics with this new recording of two of Mozart’s most famous piano concerti: Nos. 20 in D minor and 27 in B-flat Major. This electrifying recording, with Kissin conducting the orchestra Kremerata Baltica from the keyboard, is one that his legion of admirers is certain to embrace. Concerto no.20 is the first (and one of only two) piano concerti that Mozart wrote in the minor key. It was a work greatly admired by Beethoven who kept it in his own concert repertoire for performance. “...the more muscular and stormy Mozart’s music, the more Kissin’s engagement rises. Tension crackles. Phrasing becomes taut...Yet his restraint in itself is no drawback. Both concertos are notably pensive, at times agitated: Kissin simply makes the shadows linger longer.” The Times, 30th July 2010 *** “[Kissin] reminds us that Mozart can withstand bold, meaty playing, with tempi slower, textures heavier and climaxes more expansive than most pianists now dare...these accounts, with passionate support from the Kremerata Baltica, remind you of a performance tradition that has all but disappeared.” The Observer, 1st August 2010 “[Kissin] keeps the ensemble tight and tidy...there are some wonderful moments like the magically handled return to the main subject after the stormy central section of the D minor's Andante, and the finale of K595 takes flight with Kissin producing his most sparkling playing” Gramophone Magazine, September 2010 “Evgeny Kissin, in his first recording as both pianist and conductor, gives stylish performances of these two highly contrasting concertos, and has also, seemingly, mastered the far from easy art of directing from the keyboard.The interplay between the soloist and the Kremerata Baltica...is finely managed” Sunday Times, 22nd August 2010 **** “Lyrical, lively, texturally translucent and rhythmically buoyant, Kissin here [in k595] conveys that elusive universality that makes Mozart unique in history.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2010 ***/* “This performance of [K595] is hard to fault: there is a fabulous purity of tone, most especially in the slow movement, while the first movement is beautifully pointed from the very start...Kissin continues in a similarly effortless relaxed vein, colouring the sudden modulations in the development without mannerism or affectation.” International Record Review, October 2010 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Mozart - Piano Concertos Nos. 17 & 27
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