Search - George Frederick Handel, Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart :: Wanda Landowska Plays Handel, Haydn, Mozart

Landowska at the harpsichord and the piano.

John Austin | Kangaroo Ground, Australia | 10/23/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"These famous 1937 Landowska recordings come up splendidly when rendered by the alchemy of Michael Dutton's processing. Not that there is any base metal here, but the sparks fly more freely, what was dim is now bright, what was boxy and awkward is now spacious and comfortable.



Of special interest is the Mozart "Coronation" concerto, receiving its first recording and timed to coincide with the coronation of the English king George VI in 1937. Landowska's way of decorating the simple piano line Mozart notated in the second movement smacks of authenticity but was a radical departure from the performing norm in 1937.



Famed for resuscitating the harpsichord in the early C20th, Landowska was also a great pianist. She somehow perfected varieties of touch - something that would count for nothing when she played her harpsichord. Many years ago, listening to Landowska's recording of the Mozart fantasia that concludes this CD, my wife commented, "She makes a piano sound as though it has manuals".

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