Mozart for your Mind

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Composer), Colin Davis (Conductor), Jeffrey Tate (Conductor), John Eliot Gardiner (Conductor), Neville Marriner (Conductor), English Baroque Soloists (Performer), English Chamber Orchestra (Performer, Orchestra), Quartetto Italiano (Performer), Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields (Orchestra), London Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), Alfred Brendel (Performer), Ingrid Haebler (Performer), Ludwig Hoffmann (Performer), Mitsuko Uchida (Performer), Stephen Bishop Kovacevich (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: English Baroque Soloists, English Chamber Orchestra, Quartetto Italiano, Alfred Brendel, Ingrid Haebler, et al.
• Orchestra: English Chamber Orchestra, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Colin Davis, Jeffrey Tate, John Eliot Gardiner, Neville Marriner
• Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Audio CD (January 17, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Philips
• ASIN: B0000041CB
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,540 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #11 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Languages > German
  • #13 in Music > Classical > Forms & Genres > Serenades & Divertimentos > Divertimentos
  • #22 in Music > Classical > Instruments > Keyboard > Piano

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Selection of not as famous but good works!, November 12, 2002

By 

Justin (Chandler, AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mozart for your Mind (Audio CD)

The two works on this CD that are most known are The Magic Flute Overture, which is filled with brilliance from measure one to the end, and the opening piece to the movie Amadeus, the G Minor Symphony. These two pieces are superb but just because they are more known, doesn't mean they are better than the rest of the works on this CD.
The Sonata in D Major for two pianos is incredibly brilliant. The first piano holds the main melody while the second piano mimicks it, and then a huge crescendo and BOOM! It is all over the place! (My father and I are both Pianists, and we both specialize in Mozart piano concertos and sonatas.) This piece is wonderful to listen to, and I plan to learn it. The three piano concertos are also spectacular and the Jupiter Finale is superb. There isn't a piece on this CD I can honestly say is even close to okay, they are all exceptionally good. I suggest buying this CD to add to your mozart collection.

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A decent selection of Mozart's greatest uptempo hits, May 10, 2000

By 

CMS "mr_keiichi" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mozart for your Mind (Audio CD)

"You'll come for the Magic Flute Overture -- you'll stay for some of the other pieces." This CD, despite its "all-star" selection of repertoire, is not the favorite among my growing Mozart collection. Nevertheless, it still holds a reasonably high position among my CD playlist. High enough that I can put it on as background music when I'm working, but I cannot stand to listen to the whole thing when my mind wants to concentrate more on the music.

Blasphemy, you say? Well, I enjoyed all the tracks equally at first, but as I collected more Mozart CDs and became more acquainted with his style, some of the tracks on this album grew weary from repeated playing. The movements from the Two-Piano Sonata, the Haffner Symphony, the Wind Serenade, and the "other" G minor Symphony (track 7) were the first to start grating on my ears. These are perhaps the "bottom of the barrel" on the CD -- melodic tracks that serve as a good introduction to Mozart's style, but are certainly not his greatest works. However, most of the other tracks are solid material that you can listen to again and again. The Magic Flute Overture (which I mentioned earlier) is the star selection of this album; it's a true masterpiece which benefits from a spirited performance. The selections from the Piano Concertos are also my personal favorites, and no-one can resist the triumphant Finale from the Jupiter Symphony.

But is it really "for your mind"? Well, if you think that you can gain several IQ points (or a few more A's on your report card) by simply listening to this CD, think again. Mozart won't make you smarter. Hard work and study will. Think of this CD as a "study aid" -- you can put it on while you're working, and the pleasant effect of the music will improve the efficiency of your thought processes. And of course, you'll become more musically knowledgable at the same time!

Highly recommended for beginning Mozart enthusiasts, and fans of classical music in general.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "MY FAVORITE MOZART CD", May 22, 2000

By 

Jerami Vanderholm - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mozart for your Mind (Audio CD)

For some reason I got confused with "Mozart Makes You Smarter" and "Mozart for Your Mind". I actually condemned customers for giving "Mozart Makes You Smarter" a crummy score when I reviewed it, while the whole time I was thinking of the CD that I truely bought, "Mozart For Your Mind". "Mozart For Your Mind" has an excellent selection of works by this eighteenth-century genius, and I was never bored. On the other hand, I think I would of been greatly dissapointed if I had listened to the CD I was wrongfully praising. Almost all of the tracks on there are slow and tranquil. One review mentioned that the "Sonata in D Major for Two Pianos", which supposedly helped a couple people to do well on a test, wasn't on "Mozart Makes You Smarter". But it is included on "Mozart For your Mind", so I strongly recommend it. Not only for the sonata for two pianos, but the other concertos, symphonies, and chamber music as well. It is truely my favorite.