Mozart: Violin Concertos Nos. 1, 3, 4

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Composer), Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
• Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Audio CD (September 10, 2002)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Philips
• ASIN: B00006AKUT
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #276,826 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Many performers consider Mozart's music the most difficult to play really well. Viktoria Mullova, who initially became famous playing romantic and virtuoso concertos, makes it sound not only easy, but absolutely right. Her technique is flawless and brilliant, but always at the service of the music. Her tone is utterly beautiful, combining purity with a warm, radiant glow. Her phrasing is elegant, her pacing steady yet flexible. Her tempi are moderate, with plenty of time to let the music breathe. She blends artless simplicity with the most artful subtlety and aristocratic nobility, playing from deep inside the music and making every note expressive; there is not one fussy, obvious moment, not even a slide, in the whole record. Perhaps most striking is her ability to change mood and expression in an instant by varying the color and nuance of her tone with bow and vibrato. The slow movements sing with heavenly serenity; the fast ones, especially the Finale of the D major Concerto, have a courtly grace. Mullova uses cadenzas by Ottavio Dantone, even for No. 4 in preference to Joachim's. They are a bit long, but they're skillfully done, as is her own for the Finale of No. 3. Surely, this must be one of the best recordings of these oft-recorded pieces. Do not be put off by the outré cover photographs: they belie the impeccable style of both soloist and orchestra. --Edith Eisler

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mullova returns!, February 1, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Mozart: Violin Concertos Nos. 1, 3, 4 (Audio CD)

Viktoria Mullova has kind of faded lately from the mainstream classical vocabulary, if you will, but not from the minds and hearts of her fans. This album is wonderful. Mozart here is beautifully balanced; Viktoria and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment never sound Romantic or Baroque; these are Classical concertos in a performance that both reminds you and makes you forget when it was written; I just enjoyed the music. So will you. There is a grace and lyric dignity to this CD that is hard to quantify, but is impossible to miss.

Oh by the way, the playing is flawless. Especially Mullova on that gut-strung Stradivarius! Wow!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stylish Classical, July 25, 2005

By 

J. TIMMERMAN (Lawson, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mozart: Violin Concertos Nos. 1, 3, 4 (Audio CD)

Plenty of panache, sweetness and lyricism from Mullova here. Tempi seem just right and she makes light of even the most difficult passages. These performances really lift one's spirit as music should do. Sound quality is superb too, warm and detailed.

Better quality and more exciting than Monica Huggett's recordings (with same orchestra). Haven't heard Simon Standage's set so can't compare there.

Can't wait for Concertos 2 & 5!

5.0 out of 5 stars Viktoria Mullova's First Recording with a "Period" Instrument Ensemble, August 6, 2011

By 

Phil in Magnolia - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mozart: Violin Concertos Nos. 1, 3, 4 (Audio CD)

Viktoria Mullova is supremely talented and I have yet to experience a performance from her that is not wonderful and enjoyable.

On this disc she is both the soloist and the conductor of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, performing on a gut-stringed 1723 Stradivari, and it is her first recording with a "Period" instrument group.

This recording put her on the cover of Gramophone Magazine in November, 2002, and was one of the "Editor's Choice" discs for that month. They remarked that she brought "a modern player's technique and background to the interpretation of Mozart" with "a lightness of bow and crispness of articulation that is scarcely available to" the modern performer.

To my ears, this performance is about as perfect as it gets, and I don't know what else to say beyond that.

Gramophone compares this recording to Monica Huggett (with the same Orchestra as this Mullova recording - see Mozart: Violin Concertos), and to Simon Standage (with the Academy of Ancient Music, conducted by Christopher Hogwood - see Mozart: Violin Concertos), and feels that both have some advantages. Huggett and Standage are also both performers who are well established in the period performance field. I happen to also have the Standage/Hogwood/AAM disc, and it is equally as enjoyable as this with Mullova, but I would have a hard time selecting one over the other.

Since this recording, she has recorded several other violin concertos - Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Vivaldi - with other period instrument orchestras. Unfortunately I do not believe she has recorded the remaining Mozart Violin Concerto's (No's 2 & 5), so if you want the full set then you might want to go with Standage/Hogwood/AAM.

You will not be disappointed in this excellent performance of these three Violin Concerto's by Mozart.