Mozart: The Piano Sonatas [Box Set] [Box set]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Composer), András Schiff (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: András Schiff
• Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Audio CD (June 24, 1997)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 5
• Format: Box set
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Decca
• ASIN: B0000041K8
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,320 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #37 in Music > Classical > Forms & Genres > Fantasies
  • #51 in Music > Classical > Forms & Genres > Sonatas > General

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Elegant Performances of Mozart's Piano Sonatas, August 29, 2001

By 

John Kwok (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mozart: The Piano Sonatas [Box Set] (Audio CD)

Andras Schiff plays these Mozart piano sonatas with much elegance and grace. Unlike Christoph Eschenbach's Romantic view of these scores, Schiff emphasizes style and technique over emotion. His tempi sound just right. Decca's sound recording is absolutely first rate for an early digital recording. Both Grammophone and Penguin CD guides regard Schiff's performances as definitive. Without question, this is a fine set of Mozart's piano music worth owning.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very fine complete set of Mozart's sonatas at a great price, January 9, 2006

By 

Craig Matteson (Saline, MI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mozart: The Piano Sonatas [Box Set] (Audio CD)

This five disk set is a very affordable way to become familiar with all of Mozart's piano sonatas. Schiff is a very gifted artist who plays these sonatas with the élan and intelligence they deserve. These pieces do not have the dramatic contrasts of the Beethoven sonatas nor the virtuosity of Mozart's piano concertos. Many of them can be played quite well by amateurs with moderate talent and experience, for whom many of them were written.

However, they are works of great beauty and full of Mozart's gift of sudden changes of subject while building up almost impossible feats of integration. It seems as if he is winking at you and says, "Well, how about THIS as well...". And then another miracle occurs. There are real challenges in some of the sonatas and those are the ones you most often here in a professional recital or on record. However, all music lovers should care about these works and become familiar with all of them.

And any student trying to learn these sonatas would do well to have a collection such as this as a reference. Not to slavishly copy; heavens no. But to get a solid foundation for what the piece is about and to see if your ideas actually fit the work or if you might be trying to cram something in that really doesn't belong. There are little nuances of phrasing that are important to learn from an artist of the quality of Schiff. One simply cannot achieve the Mozartian magic with simple four-square plodding through the notes measure upon measure. Mozart is far too subtle and quick for such clumsiness.

Recommended. Great music and a good value.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Honest approach; admirable musicality!, October 15, 2005

By 

Hiram Gomez Pardo (Valencia, Venezuela) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mozart: The Piano Sonatas [Box Set] (Audio CD)

From the first time I listened this portentous keyboard 's artist, I was literally engaged with his admirable tune and austerity, that does not diminishes, nevertheless the magnificent lyricism and notorious expression.

The First Sonata finds in Schiff in plenitude of expression and blithesomeness. One of his best achievements along the set. The allegro is lovable and joyous. The Andante is one of the most inspired in Mozart 's repertoire and somehow we are in presence once more, of these accustomed leaps to the future: elegance and lyricism without affection.

The K. 282 is a perfumed performance. It possesses that precocious inspiration and maturity; it is strongly influenced by Haydn accents, but Mozart begins to show his artistic profile. The phrasing is seductive and involving. The Adagio can not be better played.

I must recognize I love this Sonata K. 332. It is so vivid, so filled of pristine nuance and gentle charm. Schiff 's exuberant pianism elevates the stature of this work. I must recognize the Adagio is slightly fast, lacking certain grade of introspective character. But he plays with such majestic and grace , letting the notes float in the air. The sublime arpeggio just before the recapitulation is terrific.

The Sonata K. 570 is one of the most mature works of Mozart. It is far to be at the same level of the Sonata K. 457 (to my mind his best achieved sonata), but it is so expressive, fragile and captivating that hardly you will be able t forget it, but is played with such conviction grade and excel phrasing that results hard to forget. I love this apparent pertness in the first section of the Adagio, that permits to play it with a fabulous perpetual beating, and so link with the second section evidently more darker and expressive, and return to the initial exposition loaded with minor anguish and wise innocence. Schiff returns and plays more restrained, having made the journey, with outstanding results. The apotheosis of the genuine irreverence and seductive charm is the Operatic final: so free and crystalline; engaging and delightful. One of the great knacks of Mr. Schiff.

In what the Sixth concerns we must establish this is a transient work; in Mozart that represents usually a leap to future; in similar way Amadeus makes the same with the Andante of the Ninth Piano Concert. The center of gravity of course, the Theme with Variations; if you pay special attention there is a very brief cite to the opening note of the later K. 331 's First Movement , and is made twice; in the second movement and antepenultimate variation for brief instants. The reading is interesting though Schiff does not reach the lovable expression of Glenn Gould or for instance the Beethovenian but valid approach of Daniel Barenboim.

The Sonata K. 330 is to many one of the happiest and freest works ever written by Mozart in any genre. He is certainly in the peak of his creative powers and Schiff 's inflections are remarkable, his crystalline phrasing and warmth expression involve the whole Sonata.The Allegro Moderato is blithe loaded with this characteristic savoir vivre of this age of Salzburg 's son. The Andante Cantabile is without doubt one of the glorious peaks in the music. The serene beauty of his melodic song is spelling and arresting and Schiff plays it with dreamy atmosphere; the Andante breaths not only a discrete charm but a hidden shadow of premonitory tragic lament, to link with an enigmatic pianissimo the initial theme more restrained and contemplative still than the first exposition. I find the K 331 a bit fast and sad, without that spring breath, specially in the First Movement. It is so graceful that constitutes as the First Movement of the Sonata 15 a true nest 's song , lovable and expressive.

The K 310 is to my mind his best achievement of the whole set. Admirable conception and well built atmosphere of eloquent expressiveness.

In sum, a memorable set that deserves to be part of your invaluable collection.