Customer Reviews

Mozart - Sinfonia Concertante · Concerto for violin, piano & orchestra / Midori · Imai · Eschenbach

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This Sinfonia Concertante has some amazingly beautiful moments created by Midori and Imai. The air flows so naturally between the two with such an intimacy, and the music expands with full of youthful energy. Midori's playing is elegant with a sharp edge and Imai has sense of fun and joy in her playing. It seems to me that the editorial reviewer sounds very conservative and does not know very much about the piece. It was Imai who needed re-fingering for the retuned Viola, not Midori. Though the editorial reviewer is trying to focus on the novelty things from his narrow minded point of view, I don't see the intention of "trying so hard to do something new from others" from this performance. The communication between the two is excellent and there are some refreshing expressions, which form beautiful climaxes in the piece. Coupling "Concerto for Violin and Piano" is an interestingly charming and Eschenbach has returned to the piano seat gracefully. An excellent CD.

The 'Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat Major, K 364/320D' is one of those refined works that is so well written that it exudes genius. Composed for violin, viola, and orchestra the work is a conversation with the two instruments with a beautifully woven tapestry of comment for the orchestra. Violinist Midori and violist Nobuko Imai are not only well paired in technique and virtuosity, they find a compatibility of discourse that is refreshingly fine. Christoph Eschenbach conducts the Norddeutscher Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester with grace and sensitive collaboration. The work is a complete success.

The Philip Wilby reconstruction of the accompanying concerto for violin and piano is a fine little piece, if not in the same realm as the Sinfonia Concertante. The performance of this uneven work makes up for the inconsistencies that arise when sonatas are adapted for orchestra. Midori again focuses on her pliant, clear technique and is matched by Christoph Eschenbach's piano role as well as his conducting. It is a minor work played in a major manner. The recorded sound is clean and resonant and the CD is well worth placing in every Mozart lover's library. Grady Harp, July 05

I was blown away by this new recording of Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat Major for violin, viola and orchestra. The viola part in this piece has always moved me, but never to the degree of this version. Reading the liner notes I learn that Mozart's manuscript instructions call for the scordatura (literally, the "mistuning") of the solo viola. The part is written in D Major, but the viola's strings are tightened and tuned a half not higher, to E-flat, giving the instrument extra brightness and greater projection. In this recording it gives the solo viola a unique sound and brilliance of its own. The soloist, Nobuko Imai is quoted in the liner notes as saying that the mistuning gives her instrument "another dimension," and the added tension allows her to achieve notes "with so much less force, and yet with greater security."

I suppose the lesson is that it makes sense to follow the composer's instructions on the manuscript.

This is a very good version of (in my opinion it is pure art) Sinfonia Consertante in E-flat major, K. 320d/364 version.

By the way... about Amazons review... THIS CONCERTANTE IS MEANT to be played "mistuned" (meaning that violas strings are tightened and tuned a half tone higher, to give E-flat, instead of D-major).

Both Midori and Nobuko Imai plays wonderful on this disc and Sinfonia Concertante is very well conducted and played by Eschenbach and his NDR-Sinfonieorchester.

It is hard to describe but you people familliar with this work knows that suddenly you are in a beutiful viola part, in the first Allegro maestro, and on this disc it comes in a way I have never heard before... stunning, beutiful. Wonderful conducting from Eschenbach and beutiful, skilled played by Imai and Midori both lyrical, sensitive but at the same time distinct, forward moving.

This Concertante version is probably played by the way Mozart meant ("mistuned" :-) to have it and it is both classical AND "modern"- at the same time -and that gives me a special positive feeling about this disc.

About "Concert for Violin, Piano and Orchestra in D-major" it is a piece that also is excellent well performed and Eschenbach is def. a very talented pianoplayer.

This piece is by the way some halfway finished work from Mozart (reconstructed by Philip Wilby) but anyway this sounds like Mozart too me. It is a lovely piece too.

Record sound is stunning, marvellous and this disc music, performance and sound is simply pure art.

This CD is a wonderful recording of two wonderful Mozart pieces. Discovering this CD was for me a true revelation. The Allegro Maestoso of the Sinfonia Concertante is both powerful and transporting. When you listen to it, you're move by it. You raise up in the sky each time the orchestra's strings raise. And, the performance of Midori and Nobuko is delicious, both precise and sentimental(It's a hard, but beautiful, combination !). Then come the Andante, with one of Mozart most emotional theme, amazingly played by Midori and Nobuko. The orchestra is warm and bright on all the CD, especially on the third movement, the Presto, where Mozart show us how joyful his music can be.

The Piano & Violin Concerto was another revelation for me. Christoph interpretation of this concerto is very nice, precise but warm. The percussion (surely added by Philip Wilby) are very nice also. It add another dimension to the concerto. The orchestra sound is very well balance with the piano sound. In fact, sometimes, you forget it's a concerto, because the piano become a real part of the orchestra, along with the Midori Violin.

This CD is very well-presented and the booklet is interesting. The recording is clear, bright and warm. Everything is set for an amazing hour of Mozart genious music !

Patrick

New ideas is certainly the theme of this recording, especially in the Sinfonia Concertante. Having the viola part in two sharps is more indicative of a Baroque inclination, as is some of the articulation choices, and yet in sound the soloists are more in high gear - providing an interesting combination of musical colors.
A real contribution of this recording is the idea and execution of phrases being half with the soloists and continuing into the orchestral tuttis.
What is slightly missing, perhaps, is the grace and humor of Mozart - a sacrifice made for the energy and exuberance of the recording.
The piano-violin work is lighter and a good balance to the concertante, though the reconstructed later movements don't have the magic of the more original first.

This collection was purchased based upon the performers; not Mozart. Regret? On the contrary. They helpedturn on the proverbial light to Mozart.The three were meant to bring life to this work. I expected "la-de-da" and received a powerful interpretation of fine music. Midori is always Midori.Wow.

The stylistic approach that Midori takes to Mozart on this CD is romatnic, and her hushed way with the souful Andante of the 'Sinfonia Concertante' K. 364 isn't far from a heliotrope-scented Victorian parlor. If you like Mozart to be soft-grained, lyrical, and gentle, this is an elegantly played example. Nobuko Imai joins in a real conversation between violin and viola rather than the usual "look at me now" face-off. Both soloists have enough gumption that they don't tiptoe around the score, which comes as a relief. Tempos are middle-of-the-road, and Eschenbach's conducting is rounded and romantic. Tuning the viola a half-step sharp makes it sound more like a violin, which adds to the sense of two voices singing as one.

As for Philip Wilby's cobbled togehter concerto for violin and piano, it's a trifle. I think the Amazon reviewer is right to notice that Mozart's actual music sounds beter than a reconstructed fragment -- how could it not? -- but the addition of orchestration to Mozart's finished sonata for violin and piano adds little if anything. Midori and Eschenbach would have made a stronger case for this novelty with a more vital and enthusiastic performance, however.

For "period" buffs, who says that authentic must mean bereft of emotionality? The notes of the Sinfonia are emotional. To me, bittersweet, nostalgic. The reviewer critical of the "romantic" style of expression, of course, cannot transport himself to the 18th century and it occurs to me that a performance is successful if it has an impact on the listener. Period. That said, this performance is not mpressive. It doesn't sing; it is muddy, plodding and lugubrious. The conductor and to a lesser extent the soloists have missed the point, but not because they've layered some "romantic" style on the piece. The slow tempi do not have to be a problem necessarily. There are many outstanding versions of this piece available on CD. It's a shame because Midori is a fine artist; maybe this is not her repertoire.

I bought the single MP3 of the first movement of the Concerto for Violin and Piano, and both Midori and Eschenbach are excellent on it. My questions come from the standpoint of historical accuracy as it relates to Wilby. This concerto, like the Sinfonia Concertante, does not allow the soloists to play the orchestra's themes in the principal key area when the soloists are introduced. But in the Sinfonia Concertante, they are also given different second subjects. Why here is there only one second subject for both the orchestra and the soloists in due time?
Mozart also allows space for all of the principal themes to appear in the recapitulation in the order in which they were introduced. Here the soloists' entry theme is missing. This is not unheard of in Mozart, but wherever it does happen, the opening theme of the concerto always follows on its heels. Not to allow this to happen is following the anachronistic example of Beethoven's first two piano concertos.
The Beethovenian and post- approach is further revealed by the cadenza and what follows. The cadenza is not improvised here; rather it is written out, and it is almost as structurally important to the movement as those to the first movement of Rach 3. For it begins by introducing the closing theme, not heard since the start of the development, and never heard again. At the end the orchestra is reintroduced while the solo parts continue, and before they trill out. Mozart does ask the soloist to play material in the first movement after the cadenzas of KV 271 and KV 491, but in both instances he allows the orchestra to play alone immediately after the cadenza. Continuing the cadenza with material past it as one solo is unheard of until Beethoven 3.