Christian Blackshaw Mozart cycle on Wigmore Hall

[otterhouse]

Hello all,

On Twitter, I heard someone say good things about Christian Blackshaw's Mozart cycle on Wigmore hall. Sampled them, and... hm... maybe the first sonata is a nice performance, but kv 570, 311, all a bit "too" much performer and too little of Mozart... I've put the CD's on:

http://classicalspotify.blogspot.nl/2015/01/christian-blackshaw-mozart-piano.html

What is your opinion about these recordings?

Rolf, Netherlands

[Stanfordian]

Hello all,

On Twitter, I heard someone say good things about Christian Blackshaw's Mozart cycle on Wigmore hall. Sampled them, and... hm... maybe the first sonata is a nice performance, but kv 570, 311, all a bit "too" much performer and too little of Mozart... I've put the CD's on:

http://classicalspotify.blogspot.nl/2015/01/christian-blackshaw-mozart-piano.html

What is your opinion about these recordings?

Rolf, Netherlands

Hiya Rolf, I believe there are much better Mozart recordings around than Blackshaw. I'm really happy with Mitsuko Uchida who in my view is the consumate Mozart performer on Philips. Maria Joao Pires too is a wonderful Mozart performer and her cycle is very inexpensive on Brilliant Classics.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I heard CB playing Mozart's K576 at Aldeburgh a couple of years ago, and it was piano playing like I'd never heard before. He lifted every note out of the score to perfection, as he did in the rest of the programme. Since then, all pianists have been "+ or - Christian Blackshaw".

[Tony Halstead]

I heard CB playing Mozart's K576 at Aldeburgh a couple of years ago, and it was piano playing like I'd never heard before. He lifted every note out of the score to perfection, as he did in the rest of the programme. Since then, all pianists have been "+ or - Christian Blackshaw".

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I like the new avatar, Tony - sales of the Mozart disc doing well, then?

[Tony Halstead]

I like the new avatar, Tony - sales of the Mozart disc doing well, then?

Hmmm.... it's an old photo of a beautiful ALVIS 'Grey Lady' that I used to own in the late 1960s.
Its relevance to Mozart is purely coincidental although I must admit that its elegant proportions put me in mind not only of the 'Jupiter' symphony but also WAM's greatest symphony, No 38 in D ('Prague').

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

WAM's greatest symphony, No 38 in D ('Prague').

(With the possible exception of No 40.)

[Pianorak]

I haven't got his CDs - but heard him at the Wigmore Hall (quite a few years ago now) and still cherish the memory.

[waldo]

Thanks for mentioning these recordings, Rolf. I remember reading the glowing reviews some time ago, but forgot all about them. I'll have a much more detailed listen next week, but on first hearing: the outer movements seem a little plain, a little too careful, too measured. The slow movements are quite interesting: probably too slow for my tastes - certainly with the repeats - but also far too affected. I prefer a more regular pulse here and it does sound as if he is intent on squeezing too much emotion out of every bar. Instead of the usual six or seven minutes for one of these slow movements, you get eleven or twelve: an altogether dreamier experience. I could be wrong, as I need to listen more, but I really can't see this competing with Uchida or Pires on any level.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

(With the possible exception of No 40.)

For once we are in complete agreement.