Here's a quick rundown of some of the major sets of Mozart piano concertos. Each offers good to great playing and good to great engineering, but there are some important differences that are worth considering.
My favorite set is the one by the pianist Johann Nepomuk Hummel, with Maestro Ludwig van Beethoven conducting the Kärntnertor House Orchestra in Vienna. Very spirited performances. The orchestra sometimes gets ahead of the soloist, because the conductor can't hear a darn thing, but Hummel usually is able to catch up gracefully. The box set has long been out of print, regrettably.
That was my introduction to Mozart's Piano Concertos - I bought the entire set, in great big FAT BOXES (remember those?) at Tower Records in the mid 1980s; I have since moved on to other sets: Uchida, Brendel, Perahia, etc., However, I have never heard a more beautiful and touching recording of the Larghetto in the 27th Concerto than Ashkenazy's. Everyone else seems to be in a hurry and they take this movement (at least!) Andante, but, with Vlad. A. and the Philharmonia, you get the real deal!
The one thing regarding Bilson: he and his students recorded a fine and quite wild complete Beethoven sonatas for Claves. I hope you know those, Mr. Hurwitz, since you haven't mentioned them in the complete LvB piano sonatas.
I had never paid much attention to the Bilson/Gardiner period instrument cycle. Following your suggestion, I listened to several movements of it in scattered fashion and could see it's a truly good set. Very stylish, the fortepiano stands out and doesn't get drowned by the orchestra, which is what I always fear. Also listened to the Buchbinder recordings and was equally surprised for good. Incredible orchestral sound, magnificent playing. You really opened my eyes (and ears!) to these great cycles. Thank you. There's also one cycle that I got to listen recently, with a German pianist called Matthias Kirschnereit with the Bamberger Symphoniker (Sony) seems very fine to me too. Don't know what you think about it..
I can see (and agree) why you prefer Buchbinder over others: strong, virile, energetic yet poetic. But - my god - what a huge dominance of the timpani (whenever present) throughout this cycle!! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!.... No wonder you like it - being a percussion guy... Keep Hitting, Dave!
Excited to hear this! Seeing Schiff tomorrow at the NY Phil perform Schubert's Unfinished Symphony and concertos by both Haydn and Mozart. Taking my son to his first NY Phil concert and my 2nd NY Phil concert. Thank you, Dave, as always. Your videos are splendid, informative and charming.
Weird I've listen to loads and still keep coming back to Barenboim original recordings I think on EMI.....it explodes with carefree joy ..... Very contagious.
Thank you! I absolutely love those Bilson/Gardiner concertos, I fall in love with them every time I listen to the recordings, especially because I feel that the rhythmically-energized Gardiner really makes Bilson play his best, always lively, characterful, soulful and playful. And those vividly colored wind instruments are a joy to follow! But I also admire veeeeeeery deeply Végh's musicality. The man was really all music and good taste, and not only as the genius violin player and chamber musician that first caught my attention. Thank you for one more very welcome review! P.S.: great piano concerto sets of great composers' outputs in particular are always welcome, so please don't be shy! :)
Agreed. Bilson and Gardiner really bring out the best in these wonderful works, as do Schiff and Végh, whose recordings I adore. Both sets are fixtures on my music player.
Despite having the Uchida box I bought Schiff's and I have to admit that for the first time I feel it all comes together. Very, very happy with this box and enjoying Mozart even more than before. Thanks David, you inspire me to relisten my collection and find new horizons.
Dear Mr. Hurwitz: Thanks again for endorsing my favourite version of the Mozart Concertos, that is the Schiff/Végh! You are absolutely right concerning the need of contrasting personalities in these masterpieces and the point is proven in the Uchida/Tate cycle -glowingly recorded- and even in the much maligned Rudolf Serkin/Claudio Abbado cycle (yes, now I know that I am a "line" music lover and only occasionally a "chord" one). Végh is responsible for wonderful things in these concerts, such as the Finale of N° 17 (you mentioned it), which is taken at exactly the right tempo, allowing the gorgeous woodwinds to gloriously chirp their way. Another example is Végh's "bringing out" (spotlighting?) the first violins figure at 8:01 in the finale of N° 23, enriching the conclusive bars. And there are myriad of other beautiful details. You are right concerning the Géza Anda set. But I love the Brendel/Marriner. Now, you must visit the concerts individually I am afraid: you realise that is inevitable, don't you?
I cannot thank you enough for introducing me to the Schiff/Vegh. These performances fulfill the potential of these (mostly) great works, which often come across blandly both in recordings and live. Vegh really got the role of the orchestra right here!
Dear David I found this explanation very interesting and, even if I had already some complete sets of Mozart's concertos, I bought the set with Uchida and the set with Schiff. I already heard Uchida set and now I'll start with Schiff. The other complete cycles I have are with Brendel (with Marriner all and few with Mackerras) and with Perahia, plus single concerts with Serkin/Abbado, Horowitz/Giulini, Gulda/Abbado, Bilson/Gardiner, Demus/Collegium Aureum, Askenazy and others. Coming back to the sets, my preferred up to now (I don't have a musical preparation and my judgements are only based on the emotion proved during the listening) are Perahia and Uchida. The ECO sounds very similar in the two sets: in many concerts the timing is exactly the same; the main difference I found is the better relationship between the orchestra and the soloist in the Uchida set, as you clearly stated, probably due to the presence of the director. I cannot judge the two soloists, but I found Uchida very female, delicate, a butterfly; this is something different from any other pianist I have, apart Clara Haskil. Perahia is excellent with a very high level in many concerts, probably he is the most constant. I like also Brendel but not all the concerts are at the same level; some are really fantastic and some not so exciting. About period instruments, I think that, in this specific case, you loose something: the sound is flat, dynamics is limited as the orchestral colour; they are interesting (I have some of them) but, for my taste, not very exciting. Thanks and regards
@@DavesClassicalGuide HI David.. More than loyalty. Perahia, for me is the leading poet (of the piano) of his generation. By the way are you related to the late Ruth Hurwitz, owner Merrywood Music Camp?
At this time moment, I have noticed that I like Uchida's first set with Jeffrey Tate the best because I feel she has the greatest dynamic range in changing her touch and feeling on the keys from just a light tinkling to hard and fast dashes done with great fluidity reminiscent of romantic abandon and the orchestra's more classical accompaniment creates an interesting contrast in the faster movements but tends to blend into unison in the softer ones. I also think Perahia is wonderful with a more strictly classical presentation and a bit less of the romantic capriciousness in temperament.
Back in my early days as a concertgoer, around the mid 1980s, I once realised, during the performance of a piano concerto of Mozart, that people around me were thrilled, some of them were likely on the verge of floating, and to me it meant nothing. My ears are not for Mozart's piano concertos. Give me his Mass in C minor, D. 427, and it's a whole different story. Early in this century I attended a chamber concerto by a string quartet, though right now I don't remember their name. They played a quartet of Mozart and I got the same impression as nearly 20 years earlier. After that they played a string quartet by Anton Webern and I was thrilled. I don't know if there's something wrong with me, but I had tears rolling down both cheeks--that's how intense the playing was. As we say in Spanish, Cada uno es como es y cada cual se corre como puede.
You're right to highlight the winds in the Schiff set's slow movement of the Concerto No. 17 in G major, K. 453. The wind section of the Camerata Academica in that recording was one of the great Mozart all-star casts, including, among others, flutist Aurèle Nicolet, oboist Heinz Holliger, bassoonist Klaus Thunemann and horn player Radovan Vlatković. For period instruments, I would go with the more recent Ronald Brautigam set with Michael Alexander Willens conducting Die Kölner Akademie on BIS - better recording quality, a fortepiano played with real presence and, thus, much better balance between soloist and orchestra.
Thanks for the recommendations! I've heard Uchida, Brendel, Perahia, and I like them, but, am always in search for another cycle with wonderful things to discover. One thing I do notice quite often, unfortunately, is that many pianists rush through the pieces. Treating andante the same as allegro is troubling to say the least.
I certainly had (back in the days of vinyl) only one record of Brendel/Marriner and that was of 20 and 24. The last movement of 24 is not only vigorously played but vigorously conducted. But, thanks to Amazon Prime Music, I can listen to every collection you have on this video; so.I'll get to do a little comparing.
I like period Instrument recordings and the bilson recording is very good but I do recommend the Viviana Soforintzky set with the musica antiqua collegium. I also really like the modern recordings of Perriah and Uchida with the English Chamber Orchestra
Agree: having a soloist conduct because Mozart did it is like having a deaf conductor do Beethoven. Also, Perahia, good as he is - particularly in Mendelssohn - has too long been accorded the Gramophone seal of approval that turns genteel musicians into giants. My favorite Mozart pianist was rarely a pianist at all, and she left us only three concerto recordings (two off the radio): Wanda Landowska, an extraordinarily insightful, beautiful player whose acquaintance is best made away from her Frankenstein souped up harpsichord (the pre-war version sounds better and was less clangorously recorded). Also great, especially with the remarkable Szymon Goldberg (and this may surprise some who crave only her Rachmaninoff), Martha Argerich. Her 503 is wonderful. Thanks, Dave.
I totally agree with you with the notion that in Mozart's concertos, the soloist and the orchestra are sort of competing with each other. But this rilvary can take different forms and tones.
Discovered Buchbinder relatively in recent times. He has a set of Beethoven piano sonatas and two of Brahms piano concerts that are in my cd collection. Love them both, especially Brahms. Must check on his Mozart. As far as those piano concerts sets, have and love Perahia, and find Jando very musical.
In this case I agree. I usually prefer Levin/Hogwood performances over Bilson/Gardiner but unfortunately that series remained incomplete. Schiff/Végh is my choice too for modern instrument version. Not every performance is top choice in that box but it is true for all box sets. (The 20th for example is too shy for my taste with Schiff/Végh but in this case Bilson/Gardiner or Levin/Hogwood are excellent.) I usually prefer Mozart played on HIP way but in the piano concertos Végh absolutely convinced me. Schiff wrote in his book that he doesn't like to listen to recordings except for the piano concertos he recorded with Végh. He still like these recordings. He wrote that now he would have been a little bit bolder but basically he still thinks about Mozart in the same way that he did when he made these recordings. In my opinion his improvised ornaments and cadenzas are also top notch. In this case he is at the same level for me like Levin. I especially love when he quotes tunes from Mozart's operas in the cadenzas. I think Mozart also would have loved this solution.
I learnt the Mozart PCs with Schiff/Vegh, but I find I personally need a pianist with a stronger personality. So glad to have seen this video, and I now have endless enjoyment with Uchida/Tate and Bilson/Gardiner. I was really surprised at how much I love the period instrument performances. Bilson/Gardiner has really held up well hasn't it? It isn't dimming on me one bit. Really interesting, considering period instruments don't work as well in the symphonies?
Richard Taruskin's review of the Bilson/Gardiner set remains the prism through which I think about "historical authenticity"in performance. Yes, Bilson and Gardiner's appeal to history amounts to semi-informed cherry picking of the evidence, but to point that out isn't to do all that much. One isn't argued into the notion that their performances removed varnish to reveal the technicolor original; one's ears easily confirm that without recourse to the liner notes. Of course they will date, so will we! "But while the moment lasts,' Taruskin writes, " they are the Mozart performances that are the most wholly ours; and that is why we shall cherish them." - Text & Act, p. 274.
Thanks for this useful survey. Great stuff. I'm wondering if you know the Barenboim versions that were on EMI, perhaps late 60's, early 70's, with him conducting the English Chamber Orchestra. Those were my introduction to these works, and I still love those performances. I see he has a more recent complete set also with the English Chamber Orchestra. A comparison of vintage performances would be illuminating. For example, Artur Schnabel, Edwin Fischer, Solomon Cutner, that era. Just beginning to check out your site.
Same here: During my apprenticeship in a publishing company that happened to have a book & music club I worked in that department in 1979 and I could choose 1 LP for every extra hour - it took me 12 extra hours to get the box with the Barenboim LPs.
Thank you for reminding me that I have the Buchbinder set. It is labeled CALIG not Profil, but I think it’s the same set. I kept the set on my shelf and have forgotten it about 20 years. Now it is next to my CD player. I like No.13. I feel the piano and the orchestra are closely united.
This may be stating the obvious, but your videos really motivate me to revisit recordings I haven't listened to for years. I've had Vegh/Schiff for years, wasn't all that impressed and didn't listen to them anymore, then pulled out #17 after seeing your video yesterday and thought it was the greatest performance ever. Something changed in 10 years--maybe me? I've always thought the Karl Engel set was worth a listen--he's more famous as a sensitive vocal accompanist--maybe this transferred to the concertos?
I don't know the Engel set, but it often happens that we dislike or disregard a piece and then, all of a suggest, we really pay attention with fresh ears and it just "hits" us--must be a combination of circumstances.
David do you have any thoughts on the Ronald Brautigam boxed cycle? I've sampled Piano Concerto 20 from this cycle and the orchestral playing is quite characterful. Thank you.
David, I've been enjoying Uchida's version on Primephonic. Great recommend. Btw, are you an adherent of only CDs? No streaming for you? Not even Hi-Res Streaming on Classical Music specific sites? Curious if you found a difference in audio quality and that's why you stuck with CDs (or is it because they are promotional freebies). Myself, I don't have the best equipment so it's not easy to tell the difference, though I'll still get a hard copy now and again. Cheers.
The Mozart concertos are my favorite repertoire. I have so many records of them. I’ve come up with preferred recordings for each one rather than complete sets. My favorite soloists are Levin, Zitterbart, Staier, Bezuidenhout, Kocsis, Ránki, Uchida, Brautigam, Perahia, Vogt, Buchbinder, Goode, Sofronitsky, and Zacharias. I’ll be watching for your recommendations for each concerto.
@@RaineriHakkarainen I would say: Piano Concertos no. 5 Robert Levin, Christopher Hogwood, The Academy of Ancient Music Olivier Cavé, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Divertissement Piano Concertos nos. 6 and 8 Gerrit Zitterbart, Thomas Fey, Schlierbacher Kammerorchester Piano Concerto no. 7 for Three Pianos Ronald Brautigam, Manfred Huss, Haydn Sinfonietta Vienna Piano Concerto no. 9 Lief Ove Andsnes, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra Robert Levin, Christopher Hogwood, The Academy of Ancient Music Andreas Staier, Concerto Köln Piano Concerto no. 10 for Two Pianos Jos van Immerseel, Yoko Kaneko, Anima Eterna Piano Concertos nos. 11, 12, and 13 Kristian Bezuidenhout, Freiburger Barockorchester András Schiff, Sandor Végh, Camerata Academica Salzburg on “Salzburger Mozart-Matineen” Piano Concerto no. 14 Maria João Pires, Claudio Abbado, Vienna Philharmonic Ronald Brautigam, Michael Alexander Willens, Die Kölner Akademie Piano Concerto no. 15 Robert Levin, Christopher Hogwood, Academy of Ancient Music Piano Concerto no. 16 Robert Levin, Christopher Hogwood, Academy of Ancient Music Mitsuko Uchida, Jeffrey Tate, English Chamber Orchestra Piano Concerto no. 17 Robert Levin, Christopher Hogwood, The Academy of Ancient Music Andreas Staier, Concerto Köln Piano Concerto no. 18 Daniel Barenboim, Berlin Philharmonic Leif Ove Andsnes, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra Piano Concerto no. 19 Andreas Staier, Concerto Köln Piano Concerto no. 20 Robert Levin, Christopher Hogwood, The Academy of Ancient Music Murray Perahia, English Chamber Orchestra Piano Concerto no. 21 Ronald Brautigam, Michael Alexander Willens, Die Kölner Akademie Piano Concerto no. 22 Alfred Brendel, Paul Angerer, Vienna State Opera Orchestra Robert Levin, Christopher Hogwood, The Academy of Ancient Music Piano Concerto no. 23 Rudolph Buchbinder, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Concentus Musicus Wien Robert Levin, Christopher Hogwood, The Academy of Ancient Music Lars Vogt, Ivor Bolton, Mozartean Orchester Salzburg Piano Concerto no. 24 Richard Goode, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra Piano Concerto no. 25 Christian Zacharias, Laussane Chamber Orchestra Piano Concerto no. 26 Robert Levin, Christopher Hogwood, The Academy of Ancient Music Piano Concerto no. 27 Andreas Staier, Gottfried von der Goltz, Freiburger Barockorchester Murray Perahia, English Chamber Orchestra
Have you heard the complete Mozart concertos as performed by Derek Han with Paul Freeman conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra? I really love the pianist Rudolf Serkin playing Mozart's piano concertos with Claudio Abbado conducting the LSO. But I haven't seen any box sets of these two together. A shame. PS: I've noticed that Derek Han seems to play at a faster tempo compared with Rudolf Serkin on some movements.
Hello David. Speaking of great piano concertos like these, have you ever considered making a list of the ten ideal piano concertos by all composers? I mean if you could accommodate ten or so representative works in a boxed set, spanning from Mozart to the XX Century, what your choice of pieces and performers would be? I don't know if you already did this or think it's interesting. Sorry in advance if you did. Thanks!
Dear mr. Hurwitz. Thank you so much for your thoughtful review. Too bad they play the k.415 concerto with strings orchestra only. It was composed for 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 trumpets and timpani in addition to the strings. Have you any idea why?
@@DavesClassicalGuide Dear David, finally I found the answer...www.musicroom.com/product/ba4879/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart-piano-concerto-no-13-in-c-major-k-415-piano-strings.aspx
I find your videos very entertaining and informative but mostly not that useful since I am a kind of DG and Karajan guy. Regarding the Mozart’s piano concertos funny enough (for my sake ) when I don’t stick to the DG catalogue I already have the excellent box with András Schiff. I think one of the reasons for it to sound so great is the choice of Andras Piano a Bösendorfer Grand piano. In my opinion the brighter timber of the Bösendorfer is a perfect match for Mozarts music.
Well, if you've already made up your mind then that's that! I couldn't hurt to listen to something besides DG and Karajan, though, and there's a lot of music that you can't get from them.
@@DavesClassicalGuide haha I haven’t, it’s just that I already have it and not that much time to listen (unfortunately). But since I have Qobuz I can easily try out the ones you and other recommend. All streaming services tend to overwhelm you with everything available so recommendations are actually very useful. It’s also interesting to compare the DG / Karajan with something else. I picked up your recommendation on Beethovens piano sonatas. What a great recording in every way and an interesting alternative to Kempff.
Sorry to correct you, Dave, but somebody must. Murray Perahia's Mozart set with the ECO, which I own, is COMPLETE. It includes Concertos 1 through 4, #7 (for 3 pianos, with Radu Lupu playing the 2nd & 3rd piano parts), and #10 (for 2 pianos, partnered with Radu Lupu again). Andras Schiff's set, which I also own, does not include the aforementioned 6 concertos, as you correctly pointed out.
I think Mozart wrote all of them to play and direct himself. How I wish I could have been there! But seriously, would the performances have been even better with a separate conductor?
Yes. And he didn't play and direct himself. The orchestra took its direction from the first violin, normally, to the extent it paid attention to anyone. At a minimum, it would have been a collaborative effort. We can't even begin to imagine the kind of looseness and individual freedom that prevailed in ensembles of that day. There is no direct comparison possible.
I could never get into any of the boxed set recordings. The closest thing to a "set" that might be Curzon's various recordings for Decca. And maybe Staier's concertos which was released in a boxed set with concertos from other composers..
Gosh, the hits just keep on coming! I've got most of these sets, and more besides. I see that the ubiquitous Danny Boy/ECO has already been dealt with in the comments section, so I'll mention another that hasn't yet been mentioned: Lili Krauss/Stephen Simon/ Vienna Festival Orchestra (Sony). I find this perhaps the most frustratingly problematic set out there, and yet it's one with which I wouldn't part. Problematic, to say the least, because the "Vienna Festival Orchestra" plays worse than your high school orchestra, whatever high school you went to, and because I'm sure everyone who has commented here could conduct better than Maestro Simon. But I'd take Lili Krauss above almost any other pianist under consideration. So... My ideal set would be Lili Krauss with Sandor Vegh conducting either the English Chamber Orchestra from DB's EMI set or the Vienna Symphony Orchestra from Buchbinder's set, with the sound of Buchbinder's recording, in a Decca package. That's not too much to ask, is it? (As for the singletons yet to come: Any and every recording by Clara Haskil, regardless of conductor, orchestra, and sonics.)
I purchased the Vegh/Schiff boxset after listening to this review. I noticed a very annoying thing that I found is common in many Decca concerto recordings. The soloists in many Decca's concerto recordings (including Vegh/Schiff) have very low volume and submerged inside the glorious orchestra. If I listen to it in a non-optimal setting (e.g. in a car while driving on freeways), when the soloist comes in I need to turn up the volume to hear it clearly. Suddenly the orchestra comes in and it is so loud that it nearly deafen my ears. So I end up keep turning the volume up and down and it is very annoying. Other recording companies usually bring the soloist more up front in the sound stage and I prefer that.
Fair enough. I like the balances in this set, especially in Mozart and especially when the orchestra and conducting are so excellent. If that means I can't hear it in a car, so be it. This won't be one of my "road music" sets.
@@DavesClassicalGuide You have a perfect job where you can listen to music all day. When I am at work my boss keeps me busy. When I am at home my real boss (wife) would ask me do this and do that and I am busier at home than at work. So the time I can enjoy classical music is during my commute. Another problem I have is after watching your review videos, I got tempted into buying all these marvelous boxsets and I doubt I can one day finish listening to them all. By the way I just finished the Schiff Mozart Concerto set. I have already ordered the Anda set. My Erich Kleiber Decca boxset is coming later today too.
Which proves nothing. The fact that something can be done or had to be done doesn't mean it should be done. As Tovey remarked, "Musical scholarship itself is not obliged to insist on the restoration of conditions that ought never to have existed in the first place."
