Mozart piano sonatas

[gurnemanz]

Actually for anyone who has a Qobuz account - even the basic one, these are available as part of the subscription. Am I right in thinking that even in the basic mode the Qobuz sound is better than mp3? It might depend on how they do the conversion to whatever streaming format they use. Is Qobuz using ogg vorbis for compressed streams, or does it use several different formats?

Noting the enthusiasm for Qobuz round here, surely with some older recordings unless companies such as Qobuz have access to much better masters or copies there isn't really a great hope that the sound quality will be beter. OTOH I can easily believe that some new recordings or older recordings with good masters willl show an improvement.

I did get the download although I have the Sonatas on CD. Nice to have the other material for such a daft price. Out of curiosity, I have just played the CD and the mp3 of the same track simultaneously. Maybe my ears getting a bit past it but switching back and forth from one to another I could discern no difference.

I seem to have more than enough music without getting a streaming subscription as well. Maybe I would if I was just starting out. (Coincidentally, my son has just moved to a new flat telling us that he has ditched all his many CDs and now uses only streaming.)

[Dave2002]

I did get the download although I have the Sonatas on CD. Nice to have the other material for such a daft price. Out of curiosity, I have just played the CD and the mp3 of the same track simultaneously. Maybe my ears getting a bit past it but switching back and forth from one to another I could discern no difference.

I seem to have more than enough music without getting a streaming subscription as well. Maybe I would if I was just starting out. (Coincidentally, my son has just moved to a new flat telling us that he has ditched all his many CDs and now uses only streaming.)

Thank you for trying. I may have been imagining a slight improvement with Qobuz - but it's not clear cut.

There is at least one other version of some of these for the 60 cents price. The Big Mozart Piano Sonatas box has Jeffrey Biegel - recording is quite good - probably better than the Vox set, and JB's playing sounds pretty good to me too. I'd never heard of him before this week, but Lenny B rated him.

[kea]

The Mozart sonata I have the most time for is probably K576 in D major, which I have also tried to play (it is surprisingly difficult...) but none of them are bad, even K545 which many listeners find unbearable as it brings up the suppressed trauma of childhood piano lessons. >.> 576 is the most contrapuntally complex with a lovely operatic middle movement and very fun imitation-concerto rondo which always sounds like it's about to somehow transition into the finale of the "Coronation".

There's a 2-CD set of Jos van Immerseel playing the sonatas from Mozart's Vienna years which is quite special imo. For complete sets I don't recall a strong preference but think Malcolm Bilson (Hungaroton) was one of the best.

[jayne lee wilson]

Thank you for trying. I may have been imagining a slight improvement with Qobuz - but it's not clear cut.

There is at least one other version of some of these for the 60 cents price. The Big Mozart Piano Sonatas box has Jeffrey Biegel - recording is quite good - probably better than the Vox set, and JB's playing sounds pretty good to me too. I'd never heard of him before this week, but Lenny B rated him.

Qobuz Premium is 320 mp3, as are the album page excerpts...

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/music/streaming/offers

[Dave2002]

The Mozart sonata I have the most time for is probably K576 in D major, which I have also tried to play (it is surprisingly difficult...) but none of them are bad, even K545 which many listeners find unbearable as it brings up the suppressed trauma of childhood piano lessons. >.> 576 is the most contrapuntally complex with a lovely operatic middle movement and very fun imitation-concerto rondo which always sounds like it's about to somehow transition into the finale of the "Coronation".

There's a 2-CD set of Jos van Immerseel playing the sonatas from Mozart's Vienna years which is quite special imo. For complete sets I don't recall a strong preference but think Malcolm Bilson (Hungaroton) was one of the best.

There is one CD by Jos van Immerseel on Qobuz, and one volume (2 CDs vol 3) of Malcolm Bilson playing Mozart sonatas. This illustrates one of the problems IMO with streaming services - as presumably if I wanted to I might still be able to obtain all the CDs of these players - though might have to go to eBay to get deleted copies. The slow movement of K457 as played by Immerseel sounds very different from modern piano versions. Qobuz also has a short piece of text about Malcolm Bilson and how he came to be involved in playing period instruments.

I always meant to buy Bilson's set of the piano concertos, but haven't so far. I thought it might be hard to get now, but actually it still seems to be available - https://www.prestomusic.com/classica...iano-concertos

[kea]

The Immerseel double set sometimes turns up used on eg Amazon Marketplace, https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-li...=used&qid=&sr=. And Hungaroton offers all its Bilson recordings as lossless downloads on its website, each volume being about £14, with cheaper options being in the form of, again, used copies. I hadn't realised some of them were already out of print.

Streaming services only have whatever is supplied to them by labels, and labels are understandably worried about the proliferation of "stream capture" technologies. Probably why Hyperion, MDG, Tacet etc don't get near streaming at all. Hungaroton's efforts seem to have been somewhat half hearted since the album covers often are mismatched with their respective albums on Qobuz, for example these Beethoven quartets disguised as Haydn symphonies

[vinteuil]

The Immerseel double set sometimes turns up used on eg Amazon Marketplace, https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-li...=used&qid=&sr=.

... it is also in the second vol 60 CD vivarte set, discussed recently on the Bargains thread -

http://amzn.eu/d/isVsRmW

.

.

[Bryn]

... it is also in the second vol 60 CD vivarte set, discussed recently on the Bargains thread -

http://amzn.eu/d/isVsRmW

.

.

Which despite the many duplications of what I already have, I caved in and ordered as part of an amazon.de 3 for 2 purchase (with Scott Ross's Scarlatti and the Cremona Beethoven Quartets SACDs).

[Dave2002]

... it is also in the second vol 60 CD vivarte set, discussed recently on the Bargains thread -

http://amzn.eu/d/isVsRmW

.

.

Ah - so it's sitting in the unopened box which I've had for around a week now. I went for that soon after it was flagged up. Good!

[silvestrione]

I haven't tried Brautigam yet.

I'd recommend old-school Mozart players, Backhaus in K.332 , so much artistry and insight, and the end of the finale will leave you in wonder; and in K.331 he's wonderful in the first two movements (but no repeats in the 1st), though too fast in the Rondo. Then Clara Haskil in K.330, everything perfectly in scale, such lightness of touch in the magical passage work.

The acid test of a solo Mozart player for me is the Rondo in A minor: can they play the returning theme, with its decorations and off-beat accents, with the right poignancy and songfulness? Schnabel and Backhaus can.

[MickyD]

There is one CD by Jos van Immerseel on Qobuz, and one volume (2 CDs vol 3) of Malcolm Bilson playing Mozart sonatas. This illustrates one of the problems IMO with streaming services - as presumably if I wanted to I might still be able to obtain all the CDs of these players - though might have to go to eBay to get deleted copies. The slow movement of K457 as played by Immerseel sounds very different from modern piano versions. Qobuz also has a short piece of text about Malcolm Bilson and how he came to be involved in playing period instruments.

I always meant to buy Bilson's set of the piano concertos, but haven't so far. I thought it might be hard to get now, but actually it still seems to be available - https://www.prestomusic.com/classica...iano-concertos

I must confess that I still love that cycle of the concertos by Bilson...I think I find it the most satisfying HIP set of all.

[Bryn]

I must confess that I still love that cycle of the concertos by Bilson...I think I find it the most satisfying HIP set of all.

The Mozart 225 box shares the honours between Bilson/JEG and Levin/Hogwood, with some cross-over for the two and three piano concertos. That's for the HIPP offerings. Many other pianists are also represented, playing beefed up, even registered modern instruments.

[MickyD]

The Mozart 225 box shares the honours between Bilson/JEG and Levin/Hogwood, with some cross-over for the two and three piano concertos. That's for the HIPP offerings. Many other pianists are also represented, playing beefed up, even registered modern instruments.

I've got all of the Bilson and Levin recordings. It was such a shame that Decca pulled the plug on the Levin cycle - echoes of that infuriating decision they made for Hogwood's Haydn symphony cycle.

[Bryn]

I've got all of the Bilson and Levin recordings. . . .

Likewise. Just some of the many duplications as a result of buying the 225 box. I must put up for sale some time the two sets (still in their Amazon packaging) that I got for around £170 each.

[Dave2002]

I haven't tried Brautigam yet.

I'd recommend old-school Mozart players, Backhaus in K.332 , so much artistry and insight, and the end of the finale will leave you in wonder; and in K.331 he's wonderful in the first two movements (but no repeats in the 1st), though too fast in the Rondo. Then Clara Haskil in K.330, everything perfectly in scale, such lightness of touch in the magical passage work.

I listened to Backhaus in K332. As you say, in the last movement his playing is phenomenal. That's the sort of playing I was expecting Krystian Zimerman would provide - if he records it. However in other movements his tempi vary - a bit uneven - it's slightly mannered. Out of curiosity I went even further back to Schnabel, and listened to K330 - it's OK but not perhaps doesn't live up to my ideal. As I listened I realised that I probably heard Walter Klien play this many years ago. I haven't heard the Haskil yet.