Product Details

• Actors: Mozart, Zacharias, Lupu, Klansky, Gelmetti
• Format: Classical, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Euroarts
• DVD Release Date: October 18, 2005
• Run Time: 80 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000B6N5XM
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #155,592 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

W A MOZART:GREAT PIANO CTOS VOL III - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Three Great Pianists in Three Mozart Concerti, November 21, 2005

By 

J Scott Morrison (Middlebury VT, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mozart - Great Piano Concertos, Volume Three / Radu Lupu, Christian Zacharias, Ivan Klansky (DVD)

This DVD is one of a series of the Mozart piano concertos recorded about fifteen years ago in gorgeous European venues each featuring a different pianist, conductor and orchestra. This one has three of the finest pianists playing these days: Radu Lupu, Christian Zacharias and Ivan Klánský. And three fine conductors: David Zinman, Jiri Behlolavek, and Gianluigi Gelmetti.

Christian Zacharias has become rather a cult figure in recent years. He is not as well-known as some but among piano cognoscenti he is extremely well-regarded. In this DVD the very young Zacharias plays the early concerto, No. 6 in B Flat, K. 238. It is not one of Mozart's most popular concerti, nor should it be; it is more galant and easy-to-take than profound or moving. But it is Mozart, after all, and it has many felicities that no other composer could provide. For instance, the Andante movement has two of those patented singing Mozartean melodies; Schubert must certainly have known this concerto, I'm guessing. Another unusual thing about this concerto written solely as a crowd-pleaser is that all three movements end quietly. Zacharias, noted for his extremely clean and neatly articulated playing (he's a marvelous Scarlatti player, for instance) is perfect for this work. Listen to the pearly runs in both outer movements. Gelmetti, known to me primarily as an opera conductor, along with his orchestra, the Stuttgart Radio Symphony, gives the soloist sensitive support.

Radu Lupu is surely one of the most poetic pianists alive. I treasure the one concert in which I heard him play, and among my desert island discs is the CD of four-hand and two piano music of Mozart and Schubert (the heavenly Fantasia in F Minor, D. 940, for piano four-hands) played by Lupu and Murray Perahia. Lupu's address at the piano reminds me of that of Artur Rubinstein. He is a short man who sits absolutely upright at the keyboard, seemingly needing only his fingers to make his effects. In this performance, one of the greatest I've ever heard of the No. 19 in F Major, K459, he seems completely taken over by the music. His technique is gigantic, his runs and arpeggios not only clean and even, but subtly nuanced. He has an equal partner in David Zinman, one of my favorite conductors, and the German Chamber Philharmonic, a group of extremely talented young players.

Least known among these three pianists is the Czech artist, Ivan Klánský. I've never heard him live, but remember vividly a telecast years ago of him playing the Beethoven Fourth Concerto, and I recall making a note that I must find out more about him. I treasure a recording he made of Schubert Impromptus on Supraphon. Here he is playing Mozart's most-played concerto, the dramatic No. 20 in D Minor, K. 466. His take is generally more poetic than most, at least in the first two movements. His touch is extremely nuanced, as if each note has been thoughtfully placed by him in its specific context. There is drama aplenty, though, in the two cadenzas that Mr Klánský wrote for the concerto, rather daring considering almost all pianists use the cadenzas Beethoven wrote (or, a distant second, those written by Hummel). Klánský's cadenzas are not only extremely fine, they are surprisingly dramatic, especially so the one for the third movement, which is for left hand alone (and quite a barn-burner, I must say). What a pleasure to encounter these evidences of Klánský's compositional skills. The glorious middle movement is played as if the pianist were in a trance, a dream of bucolic serenity. One is not then prepared for the titanic opening of the third movement (piano alone -- and here Klánský divides the upward surging opening arpeggio between the hands, making for a more ferocious attack) and its ensuing drama. Only with the coda, where piano and orchestra resolve any conflict with a resolution in sunny D major, does any conflict subside. Jiri Behlolavek and the Virtuosi di Praga are with him all the way. Quite a performance.

The venues for the three concerti are, in order, Rococo Hall of the Schwetzingen Castle; Sophiensaal, Munich; and Rittersaal of the Palais Waldstein, Prague.

If you had to pick only one of this series of Mozart concerto DVDs (of the three I've seen so far) this is the one I'd choose. All three performances are exceptional.

Scott Morrison

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Exquisite music with so-so visuals, March 21, 2009

By 

J. King (North Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mozart - Great Piano Concertos, Volume Three / Radu Lupu, Christian Zacharias, Ivan Klansky (DVD)

I'll leave the detailed musical attributes of this DVD to the fine review previously posted by another. I have several concert DVDs and thought that the camera angles and general editing for this particular selection left me hoping for more. The obligatory break-aways to select orchestra members were there, although a bit redundant. But the more disappointing issue was the limited camera views of the solo pianist with either a side shot zoomed in to about 10-12 feet away or a repeated lengthy head-on view of the pianist from the chest up, often fixated through complete piano passages. Personally, I would rather have seen more over-the-shoulder angles and more focus on the pianists' handiwork rather than dwelling on their facial expressions, both animated and stoic, depending on the performer. Five stars for the music and three to four stars for the camera work.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Performances, August 22, 2011

By 

Phillip - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mozart - Great Piano Concertos, Volume Three / Radu Lupu, Christian Zacharias, Ivan Klansky (DVD)

All three pieces are well played and conducted.....the performance of the 20th is the best I have ever heard...electrifying to say the least.

The DTS track has exceptional audio quality. It would have been nice if they were presented in wide screen format, but that is minor quibble.

Very highly recommended.