Mozart: The Piano Concertos [Box Set] [BOX SET]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Composer), Géza Anda (Conductor, Performer), Salzburg Mozarteum Camerata Academica (Orchestra)

Product Details

• Performer: Géza Anda
• Orchestra: Salzburg Mozarteum Camerata Academica
• Conductor: Géza Anda
• Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Audio CD (May 14, 2002)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 8
• Format: Box set
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B00004YZ36
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #13,299 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, seminal interpretations, December 1, 2004

By	L. Johan Modée (Earth) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Géza Anda's interpretations of Mozart's piano concertos are immortal classics that should not be overlooked. Granted, it is a crowded field, which include many excellent accounts (Perahia's, for example). But these recordings - made in Salzburg - are fine examples of the rare moments in music making when a soloist and ensemble forms a coherent unit. Anda and his Salzburger team know Mozart by heart, and they perform these works with an unmatched dedication and sophistication. Technical brilliance is not the ultimate goal here; it is rather the music itself, how to let it flow with a balanced passion. This keeps the element of spontaneity, so crucial in Mozart's music, alive and sparkling.

Anda's Mozart is thus never dull, which occasionally is the case with Brendel's or Perahia's. In his hands, each phrase is given attention, vitality, and expressive nuance. As a result, it is a sheer delight to listen to all the 27 concertos for the (almost) ten hours it takes.

So far for the interpretations. Regarding recording quality, these recordings were made in the sixties at a time when the DG engineers really couldn't compete with, say Decca or HMV. The recordings are thus a bit dry, even if the remasterings are excellent. But do not let this very minor shortcoming prevent you from experience these outstanding interpretations.

To sum up: this set is strongly recommended for any music collector. Mozart's piano concertos have never been more attractively presented than in the hands of Anda.

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Geza Anda in love with Mozart, April 2, 2003

By	carol France (Paris, New York) - See all my reviews

Geza Anda has been one of my favorite pianists for a long time. He has moved me deeply with his beautiful style, playing every composition as if he composed it himself, with power of expression and feeling.

This complete Mozart piano concertos box set is a beautiful collectors' edition, recorded from 1961 to 1969, with Deustche Grammophon's superb sound.

Geza Anda was born in Budapest in 1921, studied with Dohnanyi and Kodaly. He won the Liszt Price in 1940. A protege of Furtwaengler - who called him "le troubadour du piano," he died of cancer in 1976.

He has received numerous awards with his earlier recordings of Liszt, Chopin, Brahms, and also with Mozart. His friend Clara Haskil influenced his approach to Mozart.
He was the first pianist who recorded all of Mozart's piano concertos, conducting from the keyboard, with the Camerata Academica des Salzburger Mozarteums.

From 1952 until his death, Anda made a solo appearance every year at the Salzburg Festival, a record matched by no other musician in Mozart's birthplace.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still among the best Mozart piano concerto cycles, December 5, 2004

By	John Kwok (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

During his lifetime Geza Anda was acknowledged as among the foremost interpreters of Mozart's piano scores, perfoming annually at the Salzburg Festival towards the end of his life. His Mozart piano concerto cycle was the first to be recorded almost in its entirety by one soloist and orchestra. It was also the first to have the orchestra under the soloist's direction. Recorded over the span of several years, these performances still sound quite vividly clear and crisp. The sound quality on these recordings is absolutely first rate. Credit is due to Deutsche Grammophon's recording engineers; these are some of the label's best recordings from the 1960's. As a soloist, Anda gives introspective, yet passionate, readings of Mozart's scores which lack the exuberance of Daniel Barenboim's performances with the English Chamber Orchestra, but are as polished as Alfred Brendel's with the Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields under Sir Neville Marriner's direction. Most noteworthy are his performances of the 14th, 17th, 20th, 21st, 24th, 26th and 27th concerti, but the others sound fine too. Fans of Mozart's piano concerti will not be disappointed with this inexpensive CD set, which still holds its own against its more recent, better recorded competition from the likes of Perahia and Uchida, to name but a few.