Product Details

• Actors: Andre Previn, Zoltan Kocsis, Heidrun Holtmann, János Darvas
• Format: Classical, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (PCM)
• Subtitles: French, 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: September 20, 2005
• Run Time: 99 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000AMMSE4
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #198,789 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

MOZART:GREAT PIANO CONCERTOS VOL 2 - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Two by Mozart, Two Arranged by Mozart, All Well-Played, October 18, 2005

By 

J Scott Morrison (Middlebury VT, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mozart - Great Piano Concertos, Volume Two / Andre Previn, Zoltan Kocsis, Heidrun Holtmann (DVD)

This DVD appears to be part of a continuing series - it is marked Volume II - of performances of Mozart's piano concertos featuring varying artists and orchestras in a number of lovely European sites. This one, from early 1990s performances, features two early arrangements by Mozart of pieces by earlier composers - his so-called Concertos Nos. 1 and 4, played by Heidrun Holtmann, with the orchestra of Italian Language Radio and Television of Switzerland, under Marc Andreae. The concerti themselves are fairly negligible but amazing for having been arranged (from works by H. F. Raupach [1728-1778] and Leontzi Honauer [1737-?1790]) when Mozart was only eleven. The performances, filmed in the Teatro Scientifico del Bibiena, Mantua, are unexceptionable.

The great A Major Piano Concerto, K. 488, is played by the very young-appearing Hungarian virtuoso Zoltán Kocsis with the Virtuosi di Praga under Jirí Behlohlávek in the Rittersaal of the Palais Waldstein, Prague. Kocsis is a marvelous Mozartean. I recall a terrific CD performance of the Three Piano Concerto, K. 242, with fellow Hungarians András Schiff and Deszo Ránki as well as the Two Piano Concerto (with Ránki), with the Hungarian State Symphony under the esteemed Janos Ferencsik. The first two movements of the A Major Concerto are simply ravishing. But then the tempo of the third movement is so fast that the poor principal bassoonist, with his recurring sixteenth note figures, is more or less swamped. It really is just a hair too fast, exciting though it be.

All is restored with a simply stunning performance by André Previn playing and conducting the 23rd Concerto in C Minor. He is given exquisite support by the Royal Philharmonic (London). That loveliest of all Mozartean slow movements, the only work he ever wrote in F sharp minor, is meltingly beautiful. The performance is filmed at the gorgeous Grosse Galerie of the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. Previn plays his own quite wonderful and style-congruent cadenzas in movements I and III.

The reason for buying this DVD, I suspect, is for the visual as well as the musical values. All three recording venues are lovely, the sound is fine in all three performances, although slightly distant in the A Major Concerto.

I understand that the next release in this series will feature Concerto No. 6 with Christian Zacharias (a marvelous pianist just now finally coming into his own with the larger music-loving public), No. 19 with the great Romanian pianist Radu Lupu, and No. 20 (the D Minor) with a little-known but excellent Czech pianist, Ivan Klánský. The conductors listed are Gianluigi Gelmetti, David Zinman, and Behlohlávek.

Scott Morrison

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars In defense of Previn, May 28, 2006

By 

R. Evans (Montgomery AL) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mozart - Great Piano Concertos, Volume Two / Andre Previn, Zoltan Kocsis, Heidrun Holtmann (DVD)

Concerning the performances themselves, I concur with the always reliable J. Scott Morrison. My main purpose here is to defend Previn from the comments of another reviewer, who implies that the orchestra members show disrespect to Previn in their facial expressions. On the contrary, they seem pleased with his performance (the concert master at one point bobs his head approvingly as Previn plays a cadenza), and at the end of the performance some members of the orchestra can be seen applauding Previn as soloist. During the performance, Previn often smiles at the orchestra, and there is nothing to indicate that the orchestra is dissatisfied with him, either as conductor or as soloist. The whole group seem pleased with their performance at the end, although Previn is typically modest in acknowledging the applause of the audience. In short, I recommend this recording, which is, like the others in this series, both musically and visually satisfying.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost great !, May 29, 2006

By 

John L. Miller "tent maker" (Sterling, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mozart - Great Piano Concertos, Volume Two / Andre Previn, Zoltan Kocsis, Heidrun Holtmann (DVD)

This is Volume 2 of a 4 volume set and it is very good. Heidrun Holtmann's performance is especially noteworthy, and entertaining. Most people are not acquainted with the First and Fourth Concertos. They contain youthful, cheerful, rhythms and tender, touching Andante movements tinged with darkness. Heidrun Holtmann's artistry presents them in a most admirable light. Her interpretation illuminates the aspects of Mozart's genius already in evidence at the age of eleven. The cd's booklet does not identify the source of the excellent cadenzas, but Ms. Holtmann has informed us that the cadenzas were written by Geza Anda (A noted Great Pianist of the 20th century). Incidentally, Ms. Holtmann is featured on a great new recording of Beethoven's Piano Concertos nos. 3 and 4 (CHAMBER MUSIC VERSION circa 1808. It is arranged for piano and string quintet !! Excellent and available at Amazon.

Zoltan Kocsis is the pianist for the 23rd concerto and it is somewhat of a disappointment. The Adagio of this concerto is noted for its poignancy and introspection, but this is lost when Kocsis plays the second movement too fast; over one minute too fast. ...This is why I did not award 5 stars to this otherwise excellent DVD.

As for the 24th Concerto, a previous reviewer wrote that some of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra musicians were obviously displeased with Previn's performance. To the contrary, it is obvious they enjoyed it!.. The concert master's head movements during the first cadenza was in obvious assent and the musicians were noticeably pleased with Mr. Previn at the end of the performance. I agree with other reviewers; Previn's performance was brilliant.