Search - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wilfried Boettcher, Paul Angerer :: Alfred Brendel Plays Mozart

Brendel's Best Mozart is His Earliest

Johannes Climacus | Beverly, Massachusetts | 05/07/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is one of two double-CD sets of Brendel's Mozart recordings made for the Vox label before he bcame an international star. In my estimation, he has never surpassed these early efforts. There is a vivacity, wit, and charm at work here that his more cerebral later recordings fail to realize. The champagne-like sparkle of his collaborations with Walter Klien in the Two-Piano Concerto and Sonata have never been surpassed. The d-minor Concerto, K 466, seethes with the defiant passions of youth, yet never steps outside the sensibilities of the Classical era; Brendel's probing rendition (including a riveting account of the Beethoven cadenza) is second to none. The F-major, K. 459 is appopriately jaunty, with lithe phrasing and splendidly articulate passagework. Only in the case of the Quintet for Piano and Winds, given here in a curiously offhand, laissez-faire manner, would I prefer Brendel's later recording for Phillips.



Two factors call for some tolerance: less than optimally refined playing from the Viennese pickup bands heard in the concerti, and dryish, two-dimensional sonics largely unimproved by remastering. But for the sake of hearing a great artist in his early prime--before the didacticism crept into his style--this set is not to be missed. Unlike the other reviewer, I experienced no tracking problems with my copy."

Problem with disk 2

Thumper | 12/02/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I have bought this set twice from Amazon, but none of any CD player could read disk 2, these CD players are Quad CDP, Sim Audio CDP, Meridian CDP and Audio Note CD transport."