Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 23 & 27

1. Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K. 488
Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performed by St. Petersburg Classic Music Studio Orchestra with Veronika Reznikovskaya
Conducted by Alexander Titov

2. Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat major, K. 595
Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performed by St. Petersburg Classic Music Studio Orchestra with Veronika Reznikovskaya
Conducted by Alexander Titov

Tracks:

Piano Concerto No. 23 In A Major, K. 488: Allegro
Piano Concerto No. 23 In A Major, K. 488: Adagio
Piano Concerto No. 23 In A Major, K. 488: Allegro assai
Piano Concerto No. 24 In C Minor, K. 491: Allegro
Piano Concerto No. 24 In C Minor, K. 491: Larghetto
Piano Concerto No. 24 In C Minor, K. 491: Allegretto

Amazon.com

Goode and Orpheus are taking their collective time recording Mozart's piano concertos, which is probably a good thing, in view of the results. Both of these performances, of extremely familiar works, benefit from intense concentration and fresh approaches. Goode appropriately stresses the lyrical side of No. 23, and even essays a bit of mild embellishment in the beautifully played slow movement. No. 24, the famous C-minor concerto, is played with Beethovenian gruffness and power, moving the music into the 19th century. The modesty of Robert Levin's fortepiano recordings seems more like what Mozart expected to hear. But as more forward-looking performances go, these splendid readings are the equal of the much-praised Uchida/Tate versions. Not only is the lack of a conductor no detriment, but the individuality and expressiveness of the orchestral lines here are remarkable. --Leslie Gerber

Customer Reviews:

Outstanding Mozart!.......2005-12-26

This is my first time hearing pianist Richard Goode and the Orpheus Chamber Ensemble in a recording of the Mozart Piano Concertos. In a word, they are outstanding.

I have recordings of these two concertos by Brendel/Marriner, Curzon/Kertesz, Ashkenazy (Philharmonia Orchestra), Howard Shelley (London Mozart Players), Barenboim (Berlin Philharmonic), not to mention other pianists whose recordings I have of Concerto no.23, but not 24, or vice versa.

Performancewise, Richard Goode can be very lyrical one moment, poetic the next. His runs are sparkling, his pianissimos very delicate. The Orpheus Chamber Ensemble is superb. If I didn't have so many recordings of the Mozart Piano Concertos, I'd be going out to get the other Goode/Orpheus Chamber Ensemble recordings; that is how impressed I am by their playing and this recording. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say that possibly Howard Shelley's Mozart playing is the most poetic of those I have, but Richard Goode is right up there.

Good, clear sound.

Better than Goode.......2004-08-26

Easily the finest interpretation of these two works on CD, as a quick audition will reveal. Such unanimity of thought, such fresh phrasing make this an inspirational experience not to be missed. No problems with the sound at all, a very natural acoustic with a life-like string sound adding to my pleasure of this release, a favourite CD.

Elite Performance -- Not a Very Good Recording.......2001-04-06

I'll make this short & simple. I like the performance, but have a hard time getting past the sound. For some reason the violin sound is completely lacking in the high frequencies. The piano sounds fine, however. I suspect that there was a lot of spotlighting with the microphone placement, and that the violins were recorded too closely. Other recordings I have of various Mozart piano concertos are with Brendel/Marriner, Brendel/Mackerras, O'Conor/Mackerras, Uchida/Tate, Schiff/Vegh. I consider them all the be very fine performances. As far as sound goes, the Goode/Orpheus and Uchida/Tate are my least favorite recordings. The playing by the Orpheus CO is top notch.

Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20, 23, 24, 26 & 27

Average customer rating:

A treasured musical file!
Excellent playing, but piano too distant
Great recordings

Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20, 23, 24, 26 & 27

Manufacturer: Decca
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Mozart: Divertimento In E
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Mozart: Requiem / Davis (Penguin Music Classics Series)
Schubert: Wanderer-Fantasie; Schumann / Clifford Curzon
Bach - Brandenburg Concertos / Il Giardino armonico

ASIN: B00005N56Y
Release Date: 2002-02-12

Customer Reviews:

A treasured musical file!.......2005-10-12

The whole story of the composers-conductors have not been written may be well considered unfinished if the name of Britten is not included. His approach in what Mozart concerns is a fact worthy of the best and sincere epithets. He added these Piano Concerts not only elegance, cram, noblesse but also aristocracy and refinement.

So when the imaginative melodic flight of Britten converges with the wisdom innocence of Sir Clifford Curzon -one of the few artists who "made sing" the piano- (Wilhelm Kempff was the genuine master in this field), the result is a true enraptured and inspired Mozart, because as the Great Genius, Mozart 's significance is major by what suggests instead by the expressed.

I should remark the special relevance of this CD because both works mean somehow, the alpha and omega of the best set of Concerts of Wolfgang Amadeus: the 20th is to my mind, the most complete and profound of all Mozart piano Concertos. It possesses humor, innocence, tragedy and redemption; all the mythic cycle expressed in thirty minutes.
"The brevity is the soul of the cleverness"

Absolutely recommended.

Excellent playing, but piano too distant.......2005-06-09

These are excellent perfomances, however, I had trouble listening to some this recording because the piano seemed so quiet and distant and was often overwhelmed by the orchestra's volume. I found myself straining to hear the quiet passages, but couldn't turn it up because the loud sections with full orchestra would be too loud. This was particularly the problem with the Britten-conducted performances, Nos. 20 and 27, less so on the rest.

I'll still try to listen to this cd, but I have other Mozart Piano Concerto performances by Alfred Brendel and Richard Goode that have better definition in the sound and a piano that doesn't get lost in the orchestra that I enjoy more.

Great recordings.......2002-05-27

Decca has wisely chosen Curzon's recordings of these Mozart concertos for reissue in their "Legends" series. Nos. 20 and 27 with Britten and the English Chamber Orchestra are absolutely classic, nos. 23 and 24 with Kertesz and the London Symphony hardly less so. Curzon was at his best in Mozart. His playing is stylish, elegant, and expressive within the context of Mozart's period, without exaggeration or idiosyncrasy. The sound is excellent and has been successfully remastered. The only snag is that no. 26 is split between the two CDs, but since this is the least popular of these concertos anyway this probably won't matter all that much. Highly recommended, and a tremendous bargain at this price (I paid almost this much a few years back just for these recordings of concertos nos. 20 and 27!).

Average customer rating:

Moravec's Romantic Vision Of Mozart
Spacious and Warm-Hearted Performances

Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 23

Manufacturer: Hanssler Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Haydn: The London Symphonies, Vol. 2

ASIN: B000009D79
Release Date: 1998-06-23

Tracks:

Piano Concerto No. 20, KV 466 D Minor: Allegro
Piano Concerto No. 20, KV 466 D Minor: Romance
Piano Concerto No. 20, KV 466 D Minor: Rondo (Allegro assai)
Piano Concerto No. 23, KV 488 A Major: Allegro
Piano Concerto No. 23, KV 488 A Major: Adagio
Piano Concerto No. 23, KV 488 A Major: Allegro assai

Amazon.com

These readings appear to be the beginning of a cycle, which should come as welcome news to all Mozarteans. Born in Prague in 1930, Ivan Moravec is a pianist of uncommon gifts and one of the most sympathetic interpreters of Mozart's music ever to sit at a keyboard. His accounts of these concertos, recorded in 1995 and 1997, blend strength and gentleness, spontaneity and calculation, the playful and the serious, in a unique way--stirring in the listener that feeling of elevation that is the hallmark of the very greatest Mozart performances. Marriner and the ASMF attain the same high level of excellence, and the sound is superb. --Ted Libbey

Customer Reviews:

Moravec's Romantic Vision Of Mozart.......2002-03-15

Without a doubt, Moravec is one of our finest pianists. Having heard him play a great recital program last year at Carnegie Hall which featured music by Debussy, Mozart and Janacek, I was eagerly looking forward to hearing this CD. Moravec gives a vibrant, Romantic interpretation of Mozart's 20th piano concerto that is the most stirring I've heard; it's certainly a far cry from Brendel's austere approach. As for the 23rd Piano Concerto, Moravec's playing conveys more of a Classical interpretation than Romantic, but it is still marked by much vibrant warmth. I don't have to emphasize Sir Neville Marriner's excellence as a fine interpreter of Mozart; both he and the Academy are in splendid form as accompanists. Hopefully this is part of an ongoing Mozart piano concerto cycle which Moravec will complete. The sound quality is splendid.

Spacious and Warm-Hearted Performances.......2000-06-13

Marriner's credentials as a distinguished Mozartean are well-known and need no elaboration here. Moravec too has been playing Mozart beautifully for many years. I have a "cold war" recording of his from the mid-'60's where Mozart's gorgeous K. 475 Fantasy is coupled with Piano Concerto no. 25. His appraoch to Mozart has always been romantic, carrying a rich and full-bodied sound, and this tradition continues here. No. 20 is, along with no. 24, Mozart's most anguished concerto, and Moravec and Marriner bring out its full emotional range in a manner that leaves Perahia and Uchida in the dust. Not since Barenoim's EMI recording have I been so moved by an interpretation of this work. No. 23 is taken more lightly and briskly, as it should be, but if you want to hear how effortlessly Mozart could mask complex heartbreak with deceptively simple lyricism, listen to this concerto's slow movement. It's unforgettable. Marriner and Moravec have also collaborated on no.'s 24 and 25, and I'd recommend that as highly as I do this recording. I was lucky enough to see Moravic perform Mozart in 1991, and he's a true artist. If you're new to these concertos, then wait no longer--a whole range of undiscovered delights await you. If you have a recording of these concertos you're happy with, give this a try too. I'm sure Moravec will bring forth new insights into these pieces you thought you knew so well.

Average customer rating:

With motive of Mozart's 250th anniversary!
BUYER BEWARE
Well, it IS Michelangeli, but is it Mozart?

Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 23

Manufacturer: Classica D'oro
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Binding: Audio CD

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Ravel/Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos

ASIN: B00005NHKJ
Release Date: 2001-09-04

Customer Reviews:

With motive of Mozart's 250th anniversary!.......2006-05-24

I must start noticing the fact there have been countless versions about these two well known Piano Concertos, but for the most of pianists the 20th Piano Concerto has become his personal Waterloo. This is probably, the most difficult, complex and intriguing of this set. The fortunate blending of such talented musicians left us for the posterity amazing results.

The wisdom vision and accurate phrasing of Michelangeli(who was in his 37) plus the notable support from the podium of Carlo maria Giulini allowed to perform one of the most sublime, distinguished and propulsive versions ever recorded.

The dark and somber environment of the first part of the First Movement, the change of modulation in the second Movement between the raising shadow of the tragedy and the profound nostalgic attachment of the far memories of the vanished youth shake hands. This Concert is absorbing in summon grade, it demands from soloist and director a cabal understanding of the thematic material. And being the First of the whole set of future Concerts to come, impregnated with furtive visions and dreamy reflections, it constitutes a real breakthrough respect the previous Mozart. If you only play the score without taking in mind the whole significance of this work, you take a very dangerous risk about it.

The 23th Concerto does not present such conceptual aspects. It' s much clear, lineal and less ambitious. It' s not a transition work and the tragedy is not hidden like an army of barefoot demons spying beneath the pages of the score.

The subduing approach, sublime charm and superb conception around both Concerts, you will never find in later recordings where you simply will enjoy musical happening, where restraining and minimizing the dramatis personae of the work, you will enjoy a good time, because of a distorted and even speculative vision.

Acquire as soon as possible this legendary album.

BUYER BEWARE.......2005-01-04

The combination of this recorded sound with Michelangeli makes a high rating impossible. More than anything else, what made Michelangeli unique was his tone-production. Being familiar with his playing, I could just about recognise him through the odd muffled sound of this 1951 live concert with Giulini.

The actual performances were probably quite good. I don't think I was looking for particular illumination of Mozart from Michelangeli as I might look for it from Brendel or Serkin or Curzon or Perahia, but everything he did was interesting. Tempi are very reasonable and nothing struck me as out of style except maybe a few 'expressive' little rhythmic inflexions. One of the critics quoted in the notes that come with these performances in Europe on the Urania label tries to make an issue of the way M handles the opening solo theme in the D minor at a slower speed than the other material, but I can't see much of a problem in that. Richter does something similar and it seems a perfectly reasonable approach to me. Cadenzas are less important, and in the D minor I don't know whose M is using but I'd rather he hadn't. Richter, Serkin and Katchen use Beethoven's.

The problems with the sound are mainly with the piano, but there is a ghastly strangulated sound to the clarinets at the start of the A major. Otherwise I suppose I have heard worse and put up with it better. I didn't get much enlightenment from the European (Urania label) leaflet either, which is largely bombastic Higher Criticism saying not much, and very clumsily translated. In the last resort I was intrigued to find out what this great player might have done in music I don't specially associate him with, and I suppose I have got something of what I was after. I also played versions I have by Serkin, Richter, Solomon and Katchen, so the exercise was enjoyable to that extent. However that is a very limited subset of what is available, and anyone looking for a categorical recommendation will have to do a lot more research. To be going on with, I am pleased to say that Britain is very well represented in the A major stakes by Solomon and Curzon. As regards the D minor, the account by Serkin and Szell strikes me as having something very special about it, whatever the competition, because of the absolute empathy of these boyhood friends, a regal quality to Serkin's playing and his vivid handling of the finale. There is a rough side to Mozart's genius as Shaw very well said, and Serkin is not afraid of that.

So 3 stars on a benefit-of-the-doubt basis because of the intrinsic interest of anything left to us by Michelangeli.

Well, it IS Michelangeli, but is it Mozart?.......2005-01-04

Several caveats about this CD. It is in execrable sound, taken from live performances for Italian radio in 1951. I got it primarily because I admire Michelangeli enormously and I also have great admiration for Carlo Maria Giulini as a conductor. Having said that, though, I must admit that except for a few moments I was not terribly taken by the performances. I was intrigued however by ABM's use of completely unknown cadenzas in the D Minor Concerto, K. 466. They clearly aren't the ones Beethoven wrote out of his great admiration for this concerto. And they aren't Hummel's far inferior set, either. So who wrote them? They sound to be much later in style than either Beethoven or Hummel and I would guess, from style alone, that they were written perhaps in the middle third of the 19th century (unless, of course, they are more modern but intentionally written in an old style). Whatever they are, they're rather nice, with some chromaticism that Mozart certainly wouldn't have used, but considering that the D Minor is Mozart's most dramatic, even Romantic, concerto, perhaps that's not too far amiss. As to ABM's playing, I would have to say that he is not a natural Mozart player. Although one can almost hear him gearing back, there is no doubt that he brings a Romantic sensibility to the two concerti. That works better in the D Minor, but in the sunny A Major concerto, K. 488, it really feels wrong. Further, Giulini's accompaniment is full of dramatic gestures that don't fit Mozart's style at all. And the RAI/Rome orchestra sounds scrappy at best; the bass-shy monaural acoustic doesn't help matters.

Still it is interesting to hear how Michelangeli was playing at age 31, just before he became gravely ill and had to interrupt his career for a time (as he had had to do while serving in the Italian air force during WWII). He SOUNDS like Michelangeli, but there is less of a lapidary manner that we became familiar with in his later recordings. There are even a couple of dropped notes, something that almost never happens in live recordings by ABM. Gasp!

I cannot give this CD more than three stars, and do that only because Michelangeli, even when playing in repertoire that is not natural for him, is still a giant. But I suppose this CD would be only for ABM completists, like my esteemed fellow Amazon reviewer, David Bryson, whose knowledge about ABM far exceeds mine. I know he owns these performances, but he seems not to have reviewed them, at least this Classica D'Oro pressing of them.

Scott Morrison

Average customer rating:

Great Sound and Performance
One of the best of her piano concerto cycles

Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 22 & 23

Manufacturer: Philips
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 21
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Mozart: Piano Sonatas
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 1 / Songs of a Wayfarer - Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau / Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra / Rafael Kubelik

ASIN: B0000040YS
Release Date: 1990-10-25

Tracks:

Piano Concerto No 22 In E Flat, KV 482: Allegro
Piano Concerto No 22 In E Flat, KV 482: Andante
Piano Concerto No 22 In E Flat, KV 482: Allegro - Andante cantabile - Tempo I
Piano Concerto No. 23 In A, KV 488: Allegro
Piano Concerto No. 23 In A, KV 488: Adagio
Piano Concerto No. 23 In A, KV 488: Allegro assai

Customer Reviews:

Great Sound and Performance.......1999-12-16

This disc has demo quality sound and the ECO plays beautifully under Tate - one of my earliest purchases on CD and a wonderful disc to listen to over and over again...

One of the best of her piano concerto cycles.......1999-06-06

I love this performances because it's full of drive/momentum. Maybe the 3rd movt.(Rondo) of No.23 is one of the fastest performance without sounding shallow or superficial. Extremely good sound quality is also a plus.

Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 12-14, 19, 23 [United Kingdom]

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Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 12-14, 19, 23 [United Kingdom]
Haskil , Weber , Fischer , Hass , Horszowski , Friscay , and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Deutsche Grammophon: Music | Specialty Stores | Music
ASIN: B000CIX0UM
Release Date: 2005-12-15

Tracks:

Piano Concerto No.19 In F, K.459
Piano Concerto No.12 In A, K.414
Concert Rondo For Piano And Orchestra In D. K.382
Rondo For Piano And Orchestra In A, K.386
Piano Concerto No.23 In A, K.488
Piano Concerto No.13 In C, K.415
Piano Concerto No.14 In E Flat, K.449

Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos.19 & 23; Rondo in A major

Average customer rating:

A WINNER!
Mozart Piano Concerto No. 19 & No. 23/Rondon in A Major

Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos.19 & 23; Rondo in A major

Manufacturer: Telarc
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Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 21 & 27
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 17 & 24
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 22

ASIN: B000003CXX
Release Date: 1991-03-12

Tracks:

I. Allegro
II. Allegretto
III. Allegro Assai
I. Allegro
II. Adagio
III. Allegro Assai
Allegretto

Customer Reviews:

A WINNER!.......2005-11-16

Yes, the Pianist is John O'Connor. He sounds light, lively and flowing to me! Great stuff. And the Orchestra sounds LIT. Enthusiastic, precise, and in love with the sound.
***In the fifth track, John O. feels his way lovingly into the runs. He really arrivied in the sweet spot.

Mozart Piano Concerto No. 19 & No. 23/Rondon in A Major.......2001-09-14

It is a good CD for people who love Mozart's Piano Concerto. The only weakness in this CD is the Pianist John O'Conor. He is not strong enough to express Mozart's passion, otherwise, it would be a great CD to be collected.

Piano Concertos Nos. 13 & 23; Haydn: Piano Concerto No. 11

Average customer rating:

GUESS WHO

Piano Concertos Nos. 13 & 23; Haydn: Piano Concerto No. 11

Manufacturer: EMI Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Ravel/Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos

ASIN: B0001HAHA0
Release Date: 2004-03-23

Tracks:

I. Allegro
II. Andante
III. Allegro
I. Allegro
II. Adagio
III. Allegro Assai
I. Vivace
II. Un Poco Adagio
III. Rondo All' Ungherese

Customer Reviews:

GUESS WHO.......2004-05-22

It was notoriously difficult to lure Michelangeli either on to the concert platform or into the recording studio. In the vinyl era those anxious to collect anything they could of the work of this phenomenon of the modern keyboard made do largely with discs of questionable origins, some of which sounded as if they had been recorded down the telephone but others of which were surprisingly good. The cd era is just a little better, and the Michelangeli-collector waits like patience on her monument to see what may turn up. I had not long ago acquired a version of Mozart's K488 by M with Giulini from 1951 and reconciled myself to the abysmal recorded quality, and now here is another version that is far better.

These two Mozart performances date from 1953. The recorded sound is not brilliant but it is quite adequate. More to the point, this is the best Mozart-playing that I have ever heard from this soloist, not in general my own idea of a natural Mozart stylist. He recorded K415 again in 1989 with the North German Orchestra under Cord Garben. It's good, and of course it's Michelangeli, but not as good as this one. M scales down his enormous touch very well indeed, but the real surprise is how spontaneous and natural he managed to sound in 1953. The 1989 account is full of artful and `expressive' little rhythmic inflexions, the 1953 one does without them and how much better it is for that. I don't know who the Orchestra Alessandro Scarlatti were or are, but they are not an oversized band. They are here again in K488 with the same conductor, and the performance has the same characteristics of naturalness and comparative openness, just slightly reminiscent of Solomon's famous recording from much the same time. M's tempi are a little slower, but there is a similar `soft-focus' quality to the touch that each deploys and a similar feeling of introversion.

When it comes to the Haydn I am simply speechless, so much so that I have to borrow the celebrated catch-phrase of HRH the Prince of Wales - `it really is appalling'. I know this performance of old because I have owned it since it was first issued on LP. M must have had some clear idea of what he thought he was about, but what it might have been is beyond me. The whole scale of the presentation is ludicrously overblown and out of proportion, and M's loud, plonking, uninflected and graceless left-hand chords at his first entry are only the worst example of a total lack of sensitivity that would have had me switching the thing off if the soloist had been anybody else. I can't suppose that it was a deliberate attempt at parody, but I haven't got a better explanation either.

It just so happens that the other pianist whose work I collect systematically is Rudolf Serkin, and it also so happens that his performance of K488 from 1955 has just been reissued too on the Sony label. I would not want to be without Michelangeli, but Serkin's Mozart at its best was of another interpretative order entirely. He has individuality in abundance, but everything is to scale, the crystalline touch is simply wonderful, and Serkin's sublime rhythmic instinct is something that Michelangeli never came near. This set is a very mixed bag indeed. I wouldn't part with it, and I wouldn't even go so far as to say that it can only be recommended to collectors. The Haydn has curiosity value and nothing else. As for the two Mozart readings, I would have liked them even if I hadn't known who was playing, and it could well be that they have general appeal.

Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 21 & 23
Average customer rating:

Caveat Emptor

Svetlana Stanceva: A Rare Star

The Best Interpretation of Mozart's Piano Concerti

Great Piano Concertos, The Worst Possible Performances!

Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 21 & 23

Manufacturer: Ent. Media Partners
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000002X9N
Release Date: 1997-10-23

Tracks:

Pno Con No.21 in C, K 467, 'Elvira Madigan': Allegro Maestoso
Pno Con No.21 in C, K 467, 'Elvira Madigan': Andante
Pno Con No.21 in C, K 467, 'Elvira Madigan': Allegro Assai
Pno Con No.23 in A, K 488: Allegro
Pno Con No.23 in A, K 488: Adagio
Pno Con No.23 in A, K 488: Allegro Assai

Customer Reviews:

Caveat Emptor.......2006-04-02

Through what appears to be a manufacturing defect - my copy of this CD wouldn't load into any of my CD players. I was bummed. I never had this problen before or since with any of hundreds of CDs.

Svetlana Stanceva: A Rare Star.......2005-09-03

Everyone's heard of Glenn Gould, Ashkenazy, Rubinstein, Brendel and other famous male pianists. Svetlana Stanceva is a wonderful female pianist and her speciatly was Mozart. Here, she provides a warm, moving rendition of the 21st and 23rd piano concerto. She does the Andante Movement of the 21st the way it should be played - not too slow (it's andante not adagio). She paces herself in the most precise manner. Mozart would be proud. In addition, I do feel it sound romantic and emotional. Besides, some of Mozart's music was merely virtuosic and sprightly for the sake of showmanship and not so much emotion. That rare second movement of the 21st (Elvira Madigan concerto) is the exception. It even comes off as Romantic Era which Mozart never lived to see). Don't bash Svetlana. She's brilliant.

The Best Interpretation of Mozart's Piano Concerti.......2001-08-03

Contrary to the opinion of the reviewer above, Svetlana Stanceva on the piano with Lizzio conducting the Mozart Festival Orchestra is without a doubt the best interpretation of both the 20 and 21 concerti. You will never find a more measured and perfect andante movement of the 21st, made famous in the film "Elvira Madigan". Ashkenazy as my fellow reviewer mentioned does a great performance and I agree. But we cannot dismiss the brilliant elegance with which Stanceva performs. The 20th's allegrois fiery, bold and breathtaking, like something Beethoven would have written and you will be satisfied with this rendition, Stanceva captures the perfect timing from the lingering slow opening to its sonorous change in the key of D minor. The Romanza is touching and for those who have seen Amadeus, it is the music associated with Salieri's bitterness in the asylum in the final scene and the music to the closing credits. Other ensembles and conductors you might want to check out, aside from Lizzio and the on with Ashkenazy would be Sir Neville Marriner's conducting the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, either the one on the soundtrack(you will hear only the Allegro and Romanza of the 20th) or in its entirety with his recording of the piano concerti. A five star recording ! Three cheers for Stanceva !

Great Piano Concertos, The Worst Possible Performances!.......2000-04-15

I love Mozart and adore his piano concertos. No. 23 is widely regarded as possibly his best piano concerto, and the Elvira Madigan has a very beautiful slow movement. These performances, however, are just terrible. The soloist is dull, the orchestra doesn't sound good, and there's no emotion here. Moreover, the piano and orchestra seem to be playing at different paces throughout. Don't let such a poor performance turn you off from such beautiful music. If you want the real Mozart piano concertos, consider Ashkenazy and the Philharmonia Orchestra.