Customer Reviews

Edwin Fischer plays Mozart

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

It's true that the quality of this recording, in terms of sound, is very poor because it is a reissue from several decades ago. Don't buy it if a 100% clarity is the only thing you need. In this recording, however, you will find one of the most charming reading of Mozart Concerti. Edwin Fischer plays with freedom and expresiveness, though his accuracy isn't as perfect as pianist of the present day such as Murray Perahia or Pollini. Anyway, what an inspiration! Buying a historical recording and complaining about its clarity is like buying an old precious stamp and complaining that it is not as clean as the latest 33 cent stamp!

Who's the best Mozartian?

I have gone through almost the entire recorded legacy, covering even the pianist/conductor such as Szell and Walter Bruno.

Not every body take relish on Friedrich Gulda's touch, great for reference as he might be. Much the same for Larrocha who is so uniquely Spanish.

Uchida has only two dimensions, and Haebler is not that consistent. Haskil is good but also mitigated by heaalth as well as by the recorded sound. Coming to the Leschetizkians, there is of course, Horszowski. Other than that, I also find Firkusny appealing.

In between, I find Anni Fischer and particularly Geza Anda rather interesting. But their teacher Dohnanyi is abundantly more interesting: he is the very essence of Romanticism. Again, the sound of the latter is poor. Furthermore, most of them have gone out of print.

So, all things considered and from a pupil's point of view, including the recorded sound, I'll go for Brendel. In comparison, Barenboim's Mozart is even duller albeit he is facilitated by a bigger technique. In any event, their master-class teacher/idol, Edwin Fischer has so much more to offer: as a classical model he is unsurpassed despite the poorer sound.

In fact, the sound is not that bad especially the remastered edition especially the piano part. For the more advanced, I certainly would opt for Fischer: Andras Schiff switched to Fischer too, but that was a switch from Schnabel, not Brendel of course.

be warned this CD was made from records recorded in 1937 and the quality is far below a modern CD (or even 1950's LPs). It may be artistically significant (I can't judge) but you probably don't want it for your only version of this music.

Recording quality on this CD was the worst in my entire collection. All tracks have persistent (and loud) hiss. Dynamic range of an old 78 rpm recording. If I still had my receipt, this one would be going back.