Customer Reviews

Mozart: Piano Sonatas KV. 281/KV. 330/KV. 333/Rondo, KV. 485/Adagio, KV. 540

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There was a lot more to Horowitz than virtuosity. Some of the loveliest lyric playing I have ever heard in my life I have heard from Horowitz. Furthermore, he was a pioneer in bringing the sonatas of Mozart and Haydn before the concert-going public. Some players of Horowitz's generation more commonly associated than he was with the Viennese masters were surprisingly shy in this respect - for instance I never heard of Serkin playing a Mozart sonata in public or on record although he played all the concertos.

The five performances here apparently come from the last years of the great man's career. I have a number of other discs from him at this period, and this is the one that I like, slightly to my own surprise, easily the best. What endears this record to me is the sense of spontaneity and enthusiasm that I sense in the playing. Horowitz obviously loves this music. In his final years his touch lost some of its evenness, but that is no real problem this time. Stylistically, I feel that Horowitz was more certain of himself in Mozart than he was in Beethoven. There is not a single tempo in all the 11 tracks that I have any difficulty with. In terms of dynamics he does not see anything wrong with a biggish tone now and again, and I must say neither do I. In general the effect is proportionate without being prettified. There are some very interesting clips from him in the liner, and I took away two points in particular from him. First, it's hard to argue with his view that one can reproduce the effect of a fortepiano on a concert grand but not the other way about. Absolutely, and that is how he goes about things here, giving us restrained dynamics with the occasional glimpse of what the extra potential of a great 8-foot beast can add now and again. It reminded me of his memorable Scarlatti, using the concert grand to replicate a harpsichord in a way that Lipatti and Michelangeli and even Gould did not choose to do. His other specially intriguing remark relates to tempo rubato - he draws a pointed parallel between Chopin's famous rule that the left hand should keep strict time but the right had much more freedom and what appears to have been an astonishingly similar statement by Mozart himself. If the quotation had not been given, I think I would still have found his very disciplined rubato here both perfectly in keeping with Mozart's idiom and at the same time expressive. I found that the `andante amoroso' of the sonata K281 and the great B minor adagio K540 had a lot to say to me here.

I sense that I may be lowering the 5-star bar just a little, but this is a player I love and this is a record I feel privileged to have found. There was nobody quite like Horowitz, and there is still some of the special and unique magic here.

Horowitz was undoubtedly one of the best performer of the past century. This CD although does not fully demonstrate Horowitz's phenomenonal ability, listeners can still hear the crystalline clarity and brilliance in the fast movements, the pathos in the simple B minor adagio, the lyricism in the slow movements and too many other things to list. Mozart was not one of my favourite composers but Horowitz brings out all the subtlety in the simplicity of Mozart that gives the music so much more depth. (Although at times he sounds a bit too heavy handed for Mozart, but it's probably just a recording problem and who am I to criticise a master.) Any people out there who haven't heard Horowitz before, should definitely get this CD and also any CD with Horowitz playing Scriabin or Prokofiev.

Horowitz is not really a Mozartian at least he didn't care to until he was very old. Here he brought out some subtleties from the scores that had never been explored upon before. But it's uniquely Horowitz, and may sound unconvincing to some. In a way, it's a most personal interpretation of Mozart and whether that is composer's idea/concept of music is totally beside the point--in any event, it's much a matter of controversy if the composer should be the only/best authority.

Horowitz is as usual very tight and elastic-- though not to the extent of his earlier years. And although he is much more relaxed and sublime by this time, I'm still not sure if organic is the word. But whether the outcome is Mozart the "vulgar man", or the noble music Mozart "promised" us, is a different matter: it's probably somewhere in between, and it's definitely seusuos enough. Horowitz's compact sense of structure, the changing of tone colours supported by his bell like sound is amazing, if not stunning. If one is minded to have an alternative, by all means get this one, particularly if one couldn't get his "Vienna Recital". However, my favourite Mozart players are:

HORSZOWSKI: he recorded a complete round of Mozart's sonatas (alongside with his round of Beethoven sonatas ) and unlike Horowitz, almost every sonata has a different character-- he was the pupil of Leschetizky; the chosen accompanist of Casals, generally known as the greatest cellist of the century, and, piano teacher of Parahia. He passed away in the 90s when he was almost 100 years old, leaving with us at least 1/2 a dozen records with top quality sound including a few Mozart sonatas;

EDWIN FISCHER: his playing is divine. The more you listen to him, the more you'll discover. He happened to be the teacher of Alfred Brendel and Barenboim;

CLARA HASKIL: fellow student of Rudolf Serkin and Szell, sheer spontaneity coupled with absolute command of the keyboard plus an immense musicianship;

GEZA ANDA: most well-rounded. He later turned into a conductor, and the music and recorded sound of his records are of topmost quality; otherwise SZELL the conductor himself.

For the younger generation ( but they are not with us anymore now), FIRKUSNY or even ANNIE FISCHER. For the older generation DOHNANYI the conductor/composer: he is supreme, and he happened to be the teacher of Geza Anda amongst others.

For an alternative, one could turn to GULDA particularly his later years. He was the piano teacher of Martha Argerich and Abbado, the conductor of Berlin Philharmonic.

There are quite a few who are also interesting... Those who haven't heard them could perhaps check them out and judge for themselves.

This is a record on par with Gould's readings of the Bach Goldberg Variations, having at least as much to do with the performer as with the composer so that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Here you have Horowitz's Mozart, and not only Mozart - interpretations of a unique, sophisticated character. After hearing them you will hold each, Mozart and Horowitz, in higher regard.

This is the only performance i've ever heard that does justice with Mozart's sonatas. Horowitz brings out the immensurable depth of these pieces without a trace of sentimentality.
The reviewer from Hong Kong who gave this performance only 3 stars should be pityed.
I have the same pieces performed by Uchida, Gould, Barenboim and Perahia. While Gould's Mozart is certainly special, Barenboim's interesting, they all pale in comparison to Horowitz.
I'm sorry to say but this is a one of a kind CD in the Mozart discography.

Horowitz has produced here a very fine "Romantic" sounding Mozart. These are my favorite Mozart Sonatas that I have on disc. The quality of sound is very good, and the playing has an almost personal sound to it. No pianist will ever be able to play Mozart like this again.

I've had this album for a while but, the other day, I sat and gave it a really undivided listen. It was one of those things that really re-affirms everything I love about music and the way I think it fits into the world. Here's a guy-- Horowitz-- in his eighties and communing with Mozart in a way that only a devoted and gifted pianist can. K. 281 has got to be one of the most sublime pieces of music ever written. At first, I was most taken with the first movement of this piece but, as time goes on, it is the second movement that truly moves my soul. To me, there is so much restrained beauty in this movement. The absence of certain chords that feel obvious to me still ring out beautifully in their absence, like the negative space in a painting.

Put very simply, Horowitz is giving me everything that I want from my Mozart. His easy touch, his sense of rhythm, and his big, modern piano have allowed me to enjoy Mozart's music on a level that correlates with Mozart's legendary status as a composer. It is easy to recognize what all the hype is about concerning Mozart, even when listening to relatively lack-lustre performances. Performances like the ones on this disc, however, make such maudlin observances to be truly beneath me as I am captivated by the perfection of the musical experience.