Recordings of the Complete Mozart Piano Concertos

[Thomas Roth]

They are often much cheaper than individual discs. And it can be interesting to hear an artist you admire in pieces you already know with another artist. Different isn´t always better or worse, merely different. In Brendel´s set I don´t like no 20 because of Marriner´s tame conducting. But that is the only one. I mean, why do I have almost all recordings of the two Elgar symphonies? Because I love the music and it benefits from different approaches. I could have settled for the two "best".

[Alison]

I love the Mozart concerti and have never been too obsessive about collecting multiple versions.

Perhaps the Ashkenazy set would come first for me, with its warm characterful orchestral playing

in 'vintage' Decca sound. The Brendel discs with Mackerras are all winners too.

Do try Lars Vogt in 20 and 23 if you fancy a new version of either of those works.

Ive tried Clifford Curzon but cant hear what all the fuss is about.

[PaulT]

Ive tried Clifford Curzon but cant hear what all the fuss is about.

Wasn't that Curzon's problem too? He hated recording (I think he called the recording sessions "appointments with death") and never seemed satisfied with much of his work in the studio, particularly the Decca recordings of Mozart concertos. For me his only satisfactory Mozart concerto recording is no 27 with Britten that was released postumously as he forbad release in his lifetime.

I heard him play Mozart concertos in two concerts at the RFH with Haitink conducting and it didnt make much of an impression. He also seemed incredibly nervous. However his Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert....wonderful.

[PaulT]

I'm curious to know what makes people want to buy complete sets with the same performers. Take the Mozart concertos or the Beethoven sonatas. A pianist might play them all, but some works will be more suited to his/her temperament than others. And during the months of recording, the performer will have good days and less good days. We've all heard performers say of their recordings "I'm proud of that concerto but that one didn't quite come off".

Is the buying of complete sets somewhat akin to the erstwhile buying of Dickens complete novels in a leather bound edition to be put on the shelves and never read? Or is it to have a reference available eg "Mozart's C major concerto no 8 - now which one is that?"

I can't imagine that anyone would get pleasure in listening to one pianist - be it Haebler or Brendel or whoever - bringing their manerisms to each and every concerto. Perhaps I'm wrong.

I am genuinely curious.

You raise a valid point. I have many recordings of the popular (ie later) concertos and would not normally buy complete sets of any composer by one artist for the reasons you state. However there were two reasons for starting this thread (i) I wanted to explore many of the concertos I had never heard and (ii) wanted to study Mozart's development as a composer in the concerto form. I figured that one complete set would enable me to do both of these and whatever idiosyncrasies any one pianist might exert would be present throughout the cycle so in listening I would be more focussed on the composition rather than the interpretation.

I would be interested to hear views on this approach....pls feel free to shoot me down!

[Roehre]

You raise a valid point. I have many recordings of the popular (ie later) concertos and would not normally buy complete sets of any composer by one artist for the reasons you state. However there were two reasons for starting this thread (i) I wanted to explore many of the concertos I had never heard and (ii) wanted to study Mozart's development as a composer in the concerto form. I figured that one complete set would enable me to do both of these and whatever idiosyncrasies any one pianist might exert would be present throughout the cycle so in listening I would be more focussed on the composition rather than the interpretation.

I would be interested to hear views on this approach....pls feel free to shoot me down!

As my approach of music (any music that is) is primarily focussed on the music and only secondary if not tertiary on the interpretation (which is linked to the interpreter as well as oneself als listener), I fully understand and therefore concur with your approach. Of course it is possible at any time to find aspects of a score which other interpreters neglect, but are these the composer's intentions? We'll never know.

Does one interpretation speaks more to one's mind than another? That depends -as already mentioned- on the interpreter as well as yourself- and is possibly therefore just touching the composer's intentions. The clarity and dimensions of a recording may affect the way one is listening to - or receiving if you like- a piece. What has that got to do with the composer's thoughts? Not much I suspect.

It all comes down to interpretation, a subjective approach of the music, less with the intricacies of the music itself.
Hunting the ideal interpretation is like the search for the Holy Grail IMO.
Therefore I do acquire sets of music performed by one performer, orchestra, chamber music group or whatever.
I myself feel the need to interpret the music myself. A well recorded performance helps, but hardly ever defines my opinion of the piece in question.

[Ferretfancy]

I didn't really know any of the Mozart concertos until about 1960, apart from K488. At that time there weren't really all that many records to choose from. It's interesting to take a look at the old Record Guide to see how few recommended versions there were. Then my partner introduced me to performances by Ingrid Haebler on LP, and later Wilhelm Kempff. I started collecting both Barenboim and Perahia on LP, and later when their complete sets appeared on CD. These are still my only complete sets, but I find that I have no less than 246 other performances, including Brendel, Uchida, Goode, Solomon, Ashkenazy, Zacharias,Kathleen Long, even Rubinstein, who didn't do much Mozart.

I think I must be completely mad, but in my defence if it is needed, there is rarely a week in which I do not listen to one, never tiring of them. I suppose this puts me into the same category as our good friend King Christian II with Sibelius!

[makropulos]

I didn't really know any of the Mozart concertos until about 1960, apart from K488. At that time there weren't really all that many records to choose from. It's interesting to take a look at the old Record Guide to see how few recommended versions there were. Then my partner introduced me to performances by Ingrid Haebler on LP, and later Wilhelm Kempff. I started collecting both Barenboim and Perahia on LP, and later when their complete sets appeared on CD. These are still my only complete sets, but I find that I have no less than 246 other performances, including Brendel, Uchida, Goode, Solomon, Ashkenazy, Zacharias,Kathleen Long, even Rubinstein, who didn't do much Mozart.

Ferretfancy - that doesn't sound mad to me, given that these pieces are endlessly fascinating. Among the pianists you haven't mentioned who have made interesting records of one or (quite a few) more Mozart concertos, I'd add the following:
Edwin Fischer, Serkin (especially his earlier discs with Szell et al), Casadesus, Horszowski, Gulda, Badura-Skoda, Matthews, Andras Schiff, Robert Levin, Gilels, Pires, Andor Foldes, Balsam, Schnabel, Pollini (a delightful K453), and two conductor-pianists - Bernstein and Previn. The list could go on for ever...

[Bryn]

Indeed the list does go on, and includes Immerseel, Annie Fischer and Demus, for my money, and what about Movravec?

[makropulos]

Bryn - dead right. How on earth did I forget Annie Fischer? Or, indeed, Demus.
Of the HIP pianists, Immerseel doesn't quite do it for me in the way Levin (very much) does, but there are some good things in that cycle.
Moravec is one of those legends I've never quite "got" - I need to listen to a lot more of him. D'you have any Mozart concertos?

[Bryn]

Sorry to say, at the moment only on rather bedraggled Supraphon LPs. I am in the process of ordering his cooperation with Marriner in K488 etc., however. The Supraphon re-issues are beyond the sort of price I find acceptable.

[Oops. Just seen that Presto have the Supraphon of K449, K488 and K503 at a sensible price. Far, far lower than that on amazon.co.uk.]

[Keraulophone]

Non-Perahia recordings in my collection whcih I treasure include: ... Goode and Kovacevich in K503 (Perahia sounds as if he were recorded in a swimming bath in this one).

Having at long last acquired Perahia's complete set of the Mozart Piano Concertos, may I come to the rescue of his K503 which, to my mind, is one of the finest ever recorded, either in or not in a swimming bath. His delicacy and subtlety in this more forthright concerto is delightfully contra-jour, especially in the interplay with those marvellous orchestral soloists; the ECO could boast a full-house of well-known wind players at that time. I'm having a wonderful few days going through this collection, which is more consistent, and more consistently excellent, than any other I've heard. I would place Annie Fischer in the same exalted category, but it seems to me that very few others have the Mozart magic so readily to hand. I must listen out for Goode, W. Kempff, likely suspects for alternatives, as well as some HIPP versions - any recommendations of complete or nearly complete sets? Immerseel/Bilson/Levin/et al more recent?

[Dave2002]

Sorry to say, at the moment only on rather bedraggled Supraphon LPs. I am in the process of ordering his cooperation with Marriner in K488 etc., however. The Supraphon re-issues are beyond the sort of price I find acceptable.

[Oops. Just seen that Presto have the Supraphon of K449, K488 and K503 at a sensible price. Far, far lower than that on amazon.co.uk.]

Is Moravec of interest in these works? I already have many recordings, and I'd probably rather veer off in the direction of HIPP or "authentic" instruments. I'm not disputing Moravec's ability as an interpreter, but is he special - in what is now quite a crowded field?

[Bryn]

Is Moravec of interest in these works? I already have many recordings, and I'd probably rather veer off in the direction of HIPP or "authentic" instruments. I'm not disputing Moravec's ability as an interpreter, but is he special - in what is now quite a crowded field?

I think so, but as one among many. I would suggest, though, that you decide for yourself:

[Keraulophone]

Thanks Bryn, I loved that performance of K503. Ivan Moravec has been somewhat ‘under the radar’ I suppose because most of his recordings were for Supraphon, which seem to have been better marketed in the U.K. through the 1970s-80s than subsequently in the digital era, until recently at least.

Interesting that his recording of the E flat K482 is used on the soundtrack of Amadeus (1984), and that an ice-skating accident when he was 18 forced him to stop playing. “ ‘Perhaps if I had been completely healthy, with muscles like a bull, my style would be absolutely different.” As it was, he developed a style of unaffected simplicity and a warm, rich sonority based on iridescent tone and precisely calibrated weighting, with generous pedalling” [from Barry Millington’s Guardian obituary, 2015]. Also notable is his study with Michelangeli (at his peak) for a year or two: bound to be a huge influence. This suits Mozart admirably, as can readily be heard in K503 despite it being one of Mozart’s more masculine works, the first movement at least. Those CzechPO wind soloists make delightful contributions too and the whole listening ensemble is most satisfying.

For comparison:
K503 1st movement with ASMF/Marriner on Hänssler Classic: https://youtu.be/0eBsLLNiRoQ

[verismissimo]

Delighted to see this thread revived. In the ten years since it was last with us, I have much enjoyed recordings by:

Viviana Sofronitsky/Warsaw HIP band/Karolak (favourite HIP set)
Robert Levin/AAM/Hogwood
Jos van Immerseel/Anima Eterna
Annie Fischer/PO/Sawallisch
Maria-Joao Pires/Lausanne CO/Jordan

And still devoted to Haebler and Anda.