Notes and Editorial Reviews
Orfeo has corralled a collection of Mozart sonata performances from the Salzburg Festival archives that features pianists approaching Mozart on diverse, often antipodal, and sometimes controversial terms. No less than three versions of the wonderful C major K. 330 sonata grace Disc 1, and they differ like night and day. Clara Haskil is angular, full-bodied, engagingly dramatic, and not averse to taking risks. Glenn Gould restricts his dynamics in a deliberate, drier, extraordinarily articulate reading that leaves little to chance. Shura Cherkassky is technically dazzling in a different way: he focuses on color rather than line, mood rather than structure, and oozes charm.
Although Wilhelm Backhaus retained certain 19th-century
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precepts of Mozart style into old age, the presence of an audience inspires more animated, energetic, and decisively projected fingerwork throughout the F major K. 332 (1962) and A major "Turkish March" K. 331 (1966) sonatas than in his versions for Decca (I've not heard the pianist's Decca studio K. 331, and refer to the live K. 331 issued from his last concert). In the "Salve tu, Domine" Variations and A minor sonata K. 310 Emil Gilels concerns himself with pianistic symmetry and effective dynamic contrasts. Claudio Arrau's K. 310 is "Schnabel-plus", boasting sweeping operatic arcs along with runs and ornaments in which every note sounds and speaks regardless of tempo. Once past a slightly square and spiky Allegro, Clifford Curzon's C minor K. 457 sonata settles down to an eloquently spun Adagio and a tautly organized yet subtly inflected Molto allegro finale. It's best to use my comments as a jumping off point for your own comparative listening observations, and I urge piano mavens to seize the opportunity. [4/13/2007]
--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com
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Works on This Recording
1.
Sonata for Piano no 10 in C major, K 330 (300h) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performer:
Clara Haskil (Piano)
Period: Classical
Written: 1781-1783
Date of Recording: August 8, 1957
Venue: Live Mozarteum, Salzburg, Austria
2.
Sonata for Piano no 10 in C major, K 330 (300h) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performer:
Glenn Gould (Piano)
Period: Classical
Written: 1781-1783
Date of Recording: August 25, 1959
Venue: Live Mozarteum, Salzburg, Austria
3.
Sonata for Piano no 10 in C major, K 330 (300h) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performer:
Shura Cherkassky (Piano)
Period: Classical
Written: 1781-1783
Date of Recording: 07/31/1961
Venue: Live Mozarteum, Salzburg, Austria
Notes: This selection is a stereo recording.
4.
Sonata for Piano no 12 in F major, K 332 (300k) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performer:
Wilhelm Backhaus (Piano)
Period: Classical
Written: 1781-1783; Vienna, Austria
Date of Recording: 07/28/1962
Venue: Live Mozarteum, Salzburg, Austria
Notes: This selection is a stereo recording.
5.
Sonata for Piano no 11 in A major, K 331 (300i) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performer:
Wilhelm Backhaus (Piano)
Period: Classical
Written: 1781-1783; Vienna, Austria
Date of Recording: 07/30/1966
Venue: Live Mozarteum, Salzburg, Austria
Notes: This selection is a stereo recording.
6.
Sonata for Piano no 8 in A minor, K 310 (300d) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performer:
Claudio Arrau (Piano)
Period: Classical
Written: 1778; Paris, France
Date of Recording: August 23, 1956
Venue: Live Mozarteum, Salzburg, Austria
7.
Sonata for Piano no 8 in A minor, K 310 (300d) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performer:
Emil Gilels (Piano)
Period: Classical
Written: 1778; Paris, France
Date of Recording: 08/06/1971
Venue: Live Mozarteum, Salzburg, Austria
Notes: This selection is a stereo recording.
8.
Variations (6) for Piano in F major on "Salve tu, Domine", K 398 (416e) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performer:
Emil Gilels (Piano)
Period: Classical
Written: 1783; Vienna, Austria
Date of Recording: 08/06/1971
Venue: Live Mozarteum, Salzburg, Austria
Notes: This selection is a stereo recording.
9.
Sonata for Piano no 14 in C minor, K 457 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performer:
Clifford Curzon (Piano)
Period: Classical
Written: 1784; Vienna, Austria
Date of Recording: 08/26/1974
Venue: Live Mozarteum, Salzburg, Austria
Notes: This selection is a stereo recording.
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