Tones, I need your help again

Better to hold Mozart and the musicians responsible.

 

I wanted to play some music this afternoon as I was working and put on what I thought was Mozart's 1st piano concerto, as it was CD 1 of Vol. 2 and said Piano Concertos on the front cover.

I certainly do not play in the same league as you guys, but I soon became aware I was not listening to piano and after a while I became quite sure I was no longer listening to Mozart, and maybe not quite to Bach.

Looking more closely at the back cover, I found that Brilliant Classics apparently "filled in" the CD with Johann Christian Bach's "Sonates pour le Clavecin ou Piano Forte Opus 3".

They must have felt that the complete works were not enough.

 

As far as I know (I haven't investigated the issue more thoroughly) , the first four of Mozarts pianoconcertos (without number or numbers 1 - 4 ?) are arrangements for piano (harpsichord) and orchestra of some of J.C.Bachs sonatas for forte piano (harpsichord). Maybe the Brilliant set bisides the arrangements of Mozart supply the listener with the original versions. I played some of these J.C.Bach sonatas when I was young, - nice playful music though more interesting to play than to listen to.

 

pe-zulu,
have you heard some Cds of your 40CD-Mozart set?
I'm going through the string quartets and string ensembles (quintets, trios ..)
I'm not a great listener of chamber music and I don't compare interpretations in this field.

The first 12 string quartets are played by the Sonare Quartet while the Franz Schubert Quartet of Vienna play the rest.
Hearing the performance of the Schubert Quartet was very enjoyable and interesting. I never had the feeling of getting boared (well maybe after 2-3 hours of nonstop listening... ). The recording quality is very good. These Nimbus recordings are clear, including the positioning of the instruments. Personally I feel that on my system the sound is a slightly too "airy".

Also the interpretation of the Sonare Quartet are enjoyable even if the music is not so mature as the later quartets.
They play the music lightly and in a very fluid way.
These Claves recordings are very good and are simalar to the Nimbus ones described above. I prefer the recording quality of DG or Philips which have less airness and have much less hall ambience, therefore the sound of the instruments are clearer. This is though a very personal point. Actually this feeling I have with most of the Brilliant Classics CDs if not all of them. One day I hope I can compare the CDs of the original Label to these "copies" of Brilliant Classics. If someone has the opportunity to compare DG or Philips string quartets recordings to these Brilliant Classic CDs, please let me know, what you prefer from the recording quality point of view. Also I would like to know your opinion concerning an eventual difference in the sound quality between the original CDs and the Brilliant Classics ones

Also I wanted to compare these interpretations with the ones of the Quartetto italiano. Unfortunately I can't find at the moment the LP-box.

 

Mozart 40 CD Brilliant box

Titian, I have now listened to some items from the 40 CD set. This is my opinion of what I have heard.

Piano concertos 9,12,19 & 20. Nice and light touch and a high degree of virtuosity from Derek Han (whom I never have heard of before - my failure obviously), just the way I like my Mozart played. The Philharmonia winds as always prominent and captivating, whereas the strings are too many for my taste and even occasionally a little unprecise. But all in all appealing and stylish performances without idiosyncrasies.

Symphonies 40 & 41. I haven't heard Pinnock's and Hogwood's period performances of Mozart, but I find it difficult to think they can be better than ter Linden's, who's light and yet pointed style approaches my ideal of Mozart. Something similar is true of the Clarinet concerto and the Horn concertos, and I am not at all bothered by the Clarinet soloists lack of virtuosity. In my ears he is more than sufficiently competent and has got a nice and ingratiating sound.

The Flute-Harp concerto on the other hand suffers from too anonymous soloists and an uninspiring conductor.

I don't like the soloist in the the violin concertos E Verhey. She made a fine CD with violin concertos by Bach for the Brilliant complete box, but her style is too heavy and accentuated for Mozart. And here I miss a little more effortless playing. Sounds as if she is very nervous.

The string quartets. The style of the Schubert quartet ( the other quartet is not represented in the box) is light and they are well balanced, and are clearly talented and competent musicians. But I always had problems with accepting the sound of a modern instrument string quartet not only on CD but also live. The sound is generally too wiry and tiring for my ear, and in this case period instruments would be preferable. For the same reason I have never fully investigated the string quartets of Beethoven and Schubert. It seems on the other hand next to impossible to play more period-like on modern instruments than the Schubert quartet. So far so good.

Regards,