Sardinia : a night of Mozart & Gershwin

"For some, the cool and more distant sound of the 1993 Sony recording will prove less attractive than the close and more colorful sound of the 2006 EMI, while it may be the reverse for others. Perhaps the ardent Colin Davis leading the professional London Symphony Orchestra will tip the scales in favor of the later recording or possibly the magisterial Carlo Maria Giulini with the magnificent Wiener Philharmoniker will weigh them toward the earlier recording".

"Quite a marvelous beginning for a complete Mozart cycle, as intelligently enthusiastic as it is lovely".

"De Larrocha's penchant for the clear plastic line made her a natural Mozart exponent, and these four virtuoso concertos accommodate her fluency and rhythmic vitality".

"This beautiful, stand-alone concert brings Corea's depth as a performer and interpreter into sharp, shining focus ... Corea exhibits a deep understanding and reverence for music both as old and new as the moment itself. Fanciful yet faithful, pianist and orchestra relish toying with the many structural inventions within Mozart's concerto ... Add a wistful "Someone To Watch Over Me" and Sardinia stands as another triumph in a life full of them".

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"The Orchestra da Camera Della Sardegna perform Mozart as written, while Corea, who in another life could equally have been a major concert pianist, personalises his performance in a fascinating way, ... embellishing his solo lines and improvising the cadenzas, all touches Mozart himself is believed to have done ... Otherwise Corea sticks to the script but ... in the piano cadenza in Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue', comprising the second part of this album (it is prefaced by Corea's 'Gershwin Intro' and 'Someone to Watch Over Me'), he really goes to town, as well as taking improvisational liberties during his solo passages - well, Gershwin was inspired by jazz when he wrote it".

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"This beautiful, stand-alone concert brings Corea's depth as a performer and interpreter into sharp, shining focus ... Corea exhibits a deep understanding and reverence for music both as old and new as the moment itself. Fanciful yet faithful, pianist and orchestra relish toying with the many structural inventions within Mozart's concerto ... Add a wistful "Someone To Watch Over Me" and Sardinia stands as another triumph in a life full of them".

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"The Orchestra da Camera Della Sardegna perform Mozart as written, while Corea, who in another life could equally have been a major concert pianist, personalises his performance in a fascinating way, ... embellishing his solo lines and improvising the cadenzas, all touches Mozart himself is believed to have done ... Otherwise Corea sticks to the script but ... in the piano cadenza in Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue', comprising the second part of this album (it is prefaced by Corea's 'Gershwin Intro' and 'Someone to Watch Over Me'), he really goes to town, as well as taking improvisational liberties during his solo passages - well, Gershwin was inspired by jazz when he wrote it".

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"Pianisten Jevgenij Kissin er mand for at levere det superbe i detaljen og det storladne på det overordnede plan. Hans perfektion i Mozart er parret med et orkester, der i Londons akustiske work in progress, det nu 25-årige Barbican Center, lyder udpræget dynamisk ... En varm, bred luksusfortolkning, hvor klaverbokseren Kissin gudskelov er nænsom ved Mozart ... Særlig i Schumann kommer Kissins immervæk hørbare flinteanslag til sin ret med smæk for skillingen, der aldeles slår benene væk under lytteren".

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"På en ny dobbelt-cd kan man høre den 32-årige kinesiske pianist Lang Lang - der har vundet ry som en sand klaverløve - gå til angreb på Mozart. Repertoiret fejler bestemt ikke noget ... Der er ikke overraskende meget at glæde sig over i orkesterspillet ... Indimellem frydefulde øjeblikke, men både en Daniel Barenboim og en Maria João Pires spiller denne musik mere retfærdigt".

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"Klaverets Lucky Luke er stadig hurtigere end sin egen skygge, men han er heldigvis også begyndt at vise følelser. Med Harnoncourt leverer Lang Lang Mozart-koncerterne nr. 17 og 24 med indlevelse og personlighed. På dobbeltalbummets anden del blegner klaverhelten dog".

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"Det har ikke altid været en fornøjelse at høre denne showmand tage livtag med især de finere nuancer i wienerklassisk musik, men ... med Wienerfilharmonikerne som medspillere sker der uventede ting. Lang Lang lytter og udvider sit musikalske format. Koncerten i c-mol nr. 24 - den ene af Mozarts bare to klaverkoncerter i en moltoneart - afslører følsom indlevelse i solokadencerne og en talende, levende frasering fra klaversolisten".

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"Under ledelse af den eksklusive japanskengelske pianist Mitsuko Uchida får musikken ånd og liv ... Her får man Mozart med højt til loftet og plads til patos ... Trods en svag dis i lydbilledet kommer Mitsuko Uchida bedre ud gennem højttalerne. Hos hende får Mozart sjælen med på rejsen fra 1700-tallet til i dag".

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"Ein Musterbeispiel für stilistische Engstirnigkeit auf höchstem Niveau ... Kissin hält an der alten russischen Lesart fest, dass Mozart in seinem düsteren c-Moll-Konzert ein prophetisches Werk der Romantik geschaffen habe ... Bei Schumanns a-Moll-Konzert hingegen erweist sich Kissins energische Sensibilität als Volltreffer ... Ein bemerkenswerter Neuanfang eines unzeitgemässen Starpianisten".

"Evegeny Kissin provides a very individual yet compelling view of Mozart's C minor Concerto. It may not appeal to those who prefer a more Clasically orientated view of the music ... I would not want to be without this performances by Kissin".

"In ihrer Vorliebe für eine gewisse expressive Drastik und Überdeutlichkeit scheinen sich Harnoncourt und Lang Lang durchaus glücklich getroffen zu haben".

"På seriens første cd ... viser Vassily Primakov sig som en moden musiker med et gennemarbejdet bud på de berømte Mozart-koncerter. Og så har han et imponerende teknisk overskud ... Scott Yoo styrer orkestret med en stram og præcis rytmisk sans ... I alt kommer Mozarts 27 klaverkoncerter til at fylde 10 cd'er, så Odense Symfoniorkester har her, sammen med både solist og dirigent, en enestående mulighed for at markere sig".

"Outstanding release. The piano playing is of exceptional quality: refined, multi-coloured, elegant of phrase and immaculately balanced, both in itself and in relation to the effortlessly stylish orchestra".

"This will prove to be a controversial issue ... For many people such extremes of characterisation will seem unidiomatic, but I'd beg them to keep an open mind ... Uchida manages to avoid the almost unavoidable trap of too much affection, and in the slow movement rises to heights of eloquent grief that are demanded, but seldom risked".

"Einen Mozart, dessen Durchhörbarkeit tatsächlich besser ist [als Schoonderwoerd] ... dessen Vergnügtheit und Frische ihresgleichen suchen. Seine 32stel-Ketten, seine Auszierungen und Triller perlen so sanft und selbstverständlich wie die eines Murray Perahia ... Eine Aufnahme, die den Hörer anspringt und trotz Konservativität den Vergleich mit Schoonderwoerd souverän gewinnt".

"Bavouzet uses a modern concert grand, with the orchestra avoiding excessive vibrato but otherwise playing in today's mellow-toned instrumental style. The superlative collective result shows that period performance issues need not be an overriding concern, if the feeling for the idiom itself is so engagingly right ... Bavouzet's scintillating delivery ... which comes across as a display of musical and technical mastery that amazes even by Mozart standards".

"Brautigam is his usual reliable self, providing playing of both brillance and insight ... For all the accomplishments of the playing here, it's hard not to feel that the music yields up more of its secrets in such stylish modern-instrument performances as those of Alfred Brendel with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra".