Mozart - Piano Concertos No. 5, 14, 16 / R. Levin, AAM, Hogwood

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Composer), Christopher Hogwood (Conductor), The Academy of Ancient Music (Orchestra), Robert Levin (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Robert Levin
• Orchestra: The Academy of Ancient Music
• Conductor: Christopher Hogwood
• Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Audio CD (January 11, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Decca
• ASIN: B00003ZA67
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #332,584 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Retro-innovative improvisations, May 8, 2000

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This review is from: Mozart - Piano Concertos No. 5, 14, 16 / R. Levin, AAM, Hogwood (Audio CD)

A "period" performance like no other, it features Levin improvising the free cadenza sections of each piece, just as Mozart or Beethoven would have if they were still playing. Rather than some "frozen" rendition by a modern technician, Levin has absorbed Mozart's music through practice and study to spontaneously improvise in Mozart's idiom. He masterfully plays Mozart's notes, but extemporizes in the obligatory bits Mozart deliberately left out (cadenzas, not mere ornamentation). Improvisation is a lost art in the Classical Music world today but was the skill that brought fame to Bach and Mozart (remember those concert scenes in "Amadeus"?). Its omission is perhaps one of the reasons if you've heard one boringly perfect recent performance you've pretty well heard them all. Levin makes heady, risky music again. The only drawback is that here we hear only one improvisatory cadenza per movement, rather than the more realistic many alternatives that CD track programming could have supplied. Levin is an enthusiastic Freiburg/Harvard pianist who has "completed" many Mozart score fragments, and is currently teaching a Harvard course on The Swing Era in jazz. How appropriate.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Creative Cadenzas, October 3, 2007

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A Minstrel in the Gallery "Chris" (Portsmouth, New Hampshire USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mozart - Piano Concertos No. 5, 14, 16 / R. Levin, AAM, Hogwood (Audio CD)

As usual with Levin/Hogwood Mozart recordings, this one is definitely a keeper. The concerto No. 5 gets off to a thrilling start, and this cd never really lets down after that. Perhaps the best track on the entire disc is the opening movement of No. 16, but there is something to please every Mozart buff here. The liner notes are also very well done, including the explanation offered by Robert Levin of why (and how) he improvises his cadenzas, and for you critics out there, he blatantly states that what he plays can never even approach what Mozart did. Still, Levin comes closer to achieving what these magnificent concertos sounded like more than two centuries ago than probably any other living performer today.

5.0 out of 5 stars Levin is a master, December 30, 2009

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rocks "rocks" (Madison WI) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Mozart - Piano Concertos No. 5, 14, 16 / R. Levin, AAM, Hogwood (Audio CD)

Excellent playing. These are beautiful concertos and as good as Mozart's later pieces for pure listening pleasure. Don't worry about the fortepiano - Levin makes up for the somewhat lighter sound. Great cadenzas.