Customer Reviews

Mozart: Piano Sonatas K. 310, K. 331 "Alla Turca" & K. 332; Fantasia in D minor

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

 

 

Mitsuko Uchida is brilliant in this music. She has near-perfect control of her instrument and pays such meticulous attention to every detail of the score that I frequently find myself rewinding to see if I've heard correctly. She balances her hands and varies their dynamics so subtly that she brings out a surprising wealth of expressive qualities in the music. K332 is my favorite Mozart sonata and Uchida's performance is top-notch, as is the recorded sound.

What can be said that hasn't been already been expressed in terms of the genius of Amadeus Mozart. If you enjoy listening to classical music and if you favor sonatas--large scale mostly a keyboard instrumental work--than this is for you. I appreciate the tempos and the layout of the various movements. The performance by Mitsuko Uchida in Fantasia D minor is classically fabulous, especially since Mozart only composed two sonatas in a minor key. I would recommend this particular performance by Uchida to all classical listeners who would appreciate these sonatas played in D minor.

If you lined up an infinite number of zombies in front of an infinite number of keyboards, they'd ultimately play this CD. Uchida basically sleepwalks through some of Mozart's greatest sonatas as well as the great torso called the Fantasy in D minor, to which she adds a different ending that recalls the beginning and thus makes it more balanced. That alteration is the main reason I bought this recording. The other was praise from the great William Kinderman in his book Mozart's Piano Music. What I hear is uniform and bland playing, with no tenderness, no color, no nuance, and uniform pedaling and mechanical touch. Her tone is indistinguishable from any recent conservatory grad, of which hundreds come into the populace every year. Classics Today lists this as a reference recording, along with the even more dull Schiff (!!), with no mention of Haskil, Pires (her earlier Denon set), Arrau (early recordings again), Horowitz, Horszowski, Schnabel, Gavrilov, or Ernst Levy, just to name a few where at least some of the repertoire overlaps. With the bounty of recordings, old and new, out there today, and being that most reviewers get complementary copies of what I have to pay for, you'd think they'd be a little more well-versed than they are. As for Kinderman, I am puzzled by his praise for this disc, and can only imagine that what they say about age and loss of hearing is true. Pity, because this is some of my favorite Mozart piano music. This is an updated and amended review from 10/10 to include newly rereleased and alternative performances.