Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 40
Like Tree10Likes

Thread: Which of these Mozart Piano Sonata cycles would you keep?

  1. #1
    Senior Member realdealblues's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    MI
    Posts
    358

    Default Which of these Mozart Piano Sonata cycles would you keep?

    I'm constantly running out of space on my old ipod (160GB Classic). I currently have 7 complete cycles of Mozart's Piano Sonatas on there and I want to cut that down. I honestly don't have a favorite. There are things I like about each of them and things I don't like about each of them. None of them are definitive for me. I currently have:

    Alicia De Larrocha
    Christoph Eschenbach
    Daniel Barenboim (Both EMI & Deutsche Grammophon recordings)
    Glenn Gould
    Maria Joao Pires
    Mitsuko Uchida

    I will probably keep Glenn Gould's on there because I have all of his recordings on there and I like to hear his interpretations from time to time. The others are closer together in trying to keep in line with Mozart's ideals I think.

    So, which recording would prefer to keep? Granted I just uncheck them in my itunes so I can always swap them in and out later if I get tired of one, but I'm just curious if you were going to choose one to keep on your ipod or mp3 player, which one would you keep? I'm kind of interested to see what the "most popular favorite" of everyone on this board would be. Thanks for any votes/replies.
    Last edited by realdealblues; Feb-22-2012 at 22:38.

  2. #2
    Senior Member poconoron's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Location
    Pocono Mts. PA., USA
    Posts
    271

    Default

    I would keep the Pires and Uchida.

  3. #3
    Banned
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Oxford, UK
    Posts
    4,485
    Blog Entries
    7

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by poconoron View Post
    I would keep the Pires and Uchida.
    What the dog said.

  4. #4
    Senior Member realdealblues's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    MI
    Posts
    358

    Default

    Thanks for the replies. They seem to be the most popular recordings, although very different from each other.

  5. #5
    Senior Member Vaneyes's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Posts
    4,873

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Polednice View Post
    What the dog said.
    What Vampire Piggy said.

  6. #6
    Member Pestouille's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    A Brucknerian site somewh
    Posts
    80

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Polednice View Post
    What the dog said.
    What the Pig and the dog said... Seems right! Who's got a bird?

    By the way throw away Barenboim emi and replace with Arrau
    By the way throw away Barenboim DG and replace with Perlemuter
    And some Curzon, Brendel, Haskill, Moravec, Brautigam, Serkin, Gilels, Wirssaladze and do not forget Gieseking!
    Oh! I forgot the latest Kristian Bezuidenhout Vol. 3...

    Mozart is too important to be handled lightly

    I forgot too, if you have the DG Pires throw away and buy the Denon cycle...

    Last but not the least, throw away the Apple "Hype" and buy a correct 'flac player'.... Mozart deserves it!

  7. #7
    Senior Member Hilltroll72's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Vermont
    Posts
    4,550

    Default

    Eschenbach would be, and in fact is, my choice.
    NightHawk likes this.
    We have nothing to fear
    but hearing loss.

  8. #8
    Senior Member realdealblues's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    MI
    Posts
    358

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Pestouille View Post
    What the Pig and the dog said... Seems right! Who's got a bird?

    By the way throw away Barenboim emi and replace with Arrau
    By the way throw away Barenboim DG and replace with Perlemuter
    And some Curzon, Brendel, Haskill, Moravec, Brautigam, Serkin, Gilels, Wirssaladze and do not forget Gieseking!
    Oh! I forgot the latest Kristian Bezuidenhout Vol. 3...

    Mozart is too important to be handled lightly

    I forgot too, if you have the DG Pires throw away and buy the Denon cycle...

    Last but not the least, throw away the Apple "Hype" and buy a correct 'flac player'.... Mozart deserves it!
    I think we need a frog and a gonzo too

    I do have the Arrau but haven't loaded it on my ipod and/or really given it the listening it deserves. I also have some of the non-full cycle recordings from others, including a few you mentioned (Curzon, Brendel, Serkin, Gilels). I do indeed have the DG Pires. I wasn't aware she had another cycle. I will have to look into that.

    Lastly, I hate apple too, but until I can buy a 2TB Flac Player that is the size of my ipod, I'm afraid I'm stuck with it...lol. I listen to CD's at home but everywhere else I use the ipod.
    Sonata likes this.

  9. #9
    Senior Member realdealblues's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    MI
    Posts
    358

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Hilltroll72 View Post
    Eschenbach would be, and in fact is, my choice.
    When I first listened to the Eschenbach cycle a couple years ago, I didn't really think much of it, but I gave all those sets a full listen over the last week and I enjoyed it a lot more this time. Pires has a wonderful almost lyrical ability with her playing and it just flows so well and so natural, but I don't always like her tempos. Eschenbach seemed a little more "choppy" I guess in his playing but I thought his tempos were perfect. He definitely warrants more listening from me.

  10. #10
    Senior Member Hilltroll72's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Vermont
    Posts
    4,550

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by realdealblues View Post
    When I first listened to the Eschenbach cycle a couple years ago, I didn't really think much of it, but I gave all those sets a full listen over the last week and I enjoyed it a lot more this time. Pires has a wonderful almost lyrical ability with her playing and it just flows so well and so natural, but I don't always like her tempos. Eschenbach seemed a little more "choppy" I guess in his playing but I thought his tempos were perfect. He definitely warrants more listening from me.
    How the Mozart sonatas are interpreted seems to me (and I think Arthur Loesser) to have been unduly influenced by 19th C. parlor musicmaking by the young female amateurs who abounded in European 'polite society' of the Piano Century. Eschenbach pretty much avoids that gentile approach. I appreciate it.
    We have nothing to fear
    but hearing loss.

  11. #11
    Senior Member NightHawk's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    1,106

    Default

    Well, for starters (and I mean NOOOO insult to you), I'd get rid of the Glenn Gould, altogether - I would sell the CDS in a garage sale or give them away. The tempos are too fast as if GG is thumbing his nose at Mozart and his fans. I think they sound comic, like a piano-roll gone insane. He stated in interview as not really liking the music of Mozart (source is GG, a Life and 32 Variations, I believe), and something tells me he recorded the sonatas out of contractual necessity. What I'd keep on the iPod in order of my preference is: Eschenbach, De Larrocha, and Uchida...but then it's just my opinion. I need to thin down my iPhone music list, as well.

    Quote Originally Posted by realdealblues View Post
    I'm constantly running out of space on my old ipod (160GB Classic). I currently have 7 complete cycles of Mozart's Piano Sonatas on there and I want to cut that down. I honestly don't have a favorite. There are things I like about each of them and things I don't like about each of them. None of them are definitive for me. I currently have:

    Alicia De Larrocha
    Christoph Eschenbach
    Daniel Barenboim (Both EMI & Deutsche Grammophon recordings)
    Glenn Gould
    Maria Joao Pires
    Mitsuko Uchida

    I will probably keep Glenn Gould's on there because I have all of his recordings on there and I like to hear his interpretations from time to time. The others are closer together in trying to keep in line with Mozart's ideals I think.

    So, which recording would prefer to keep? Granted I just uncheck them in my itunes so I can always swap them in and out later if I get tired of one, but I'm just curious if you were going to choose one to keep on your ipod or mp3 player, which one would you keep? I'm kind of interested to see what the "most popular favorite" of everyone on this board would be. Thanks for any votes/replies.

  12. #12
    Senior Member kv466's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Hialeah, FL
    Posts
    2,980

    Default

    Smart man to keep the Glenn versions as no mere mortal can ever play in such a way...aside from that, I just recently heard the entire Eschenbach cycle and I would definitely give it my stamp of approval. I remember liking Alicia's stuff, too, but I haven't heard her in a long time.

  13. #13
    Senior Member realdealblues's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    MI
    Posts
    358

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Hilltroll72 View Post
    How the Mozart sonatas are interpreted seems to me (and I think Arthur Loesser) to have been unduly influenced by 19th C. parlor musicmaking by the young female amateurs who abounded in European 'polite society' of the Piano Century. Eschenbach pretty much avoids that gentile approach. I appreciate it.
    Hadn't really thought about that, interesting thought. Makes me think about my approach to Beethoven. I get kind of the same thing with Kempff and Gilels on Beethoven's piano sonatas. Kempff to me is like Pires. His phrasing is lyrical to me and he flows very nicely in and out of every change, it's pretty but I don't care that much for it. Gilels is like an animal, absolutely ferocious! I love it! Maybe I should look at Mozart more the way I look at Beethoven

    Mozart, especially his earlier works have what I think of as that traditional Major key classical music. Stuff that is fairly cheerful and was meant to entertain (obviously later on from him we see more what I feel are introspective works), but after all he was young when he started out and culture of the time was a certain way. Beethoven to me is that later period of composers where we start to see more Minor keys and more introspection early on, maybe because he was older (seems like he was around 25 when he wrote his 1st sonata, where Mozart was like 18).

    I guess I've always thought of Mozart as a little more gentile because of this. Hmm...thanks for giving me something to really think on
    Hilltroll72 likes this.

  14. #14
    Senior Member realdealblues's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    MI
    Posts
    358

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by NightHawk View Post
    Well, for starters (and I mean NOOOO insult to you), I'd get rid of the Glenn Gould, altogether - I would sell the CDS in a garage sale or give them away. The tempos are too fast as if GG is thumbing his nose at Mozart and his fans. I think they sound comic, like a piano-roll gone insane. He stated in interview as not really liking the music of Mozart (source is GG, a Life and 32 Variations, I believe), and something tells me he recorded the sonatas out of contractual necessity. What I'd keep on the iPod in order of my preference is: Eschenbach, De Larrocha, and Uchida...but then it's just my opinion. I need to thin down my iPhone music list, as well.
    I take no offense. I'm very aware of how a lot of people feel about Gould's Mozart. He obviously did not go the conventional route but on the other side, I do understand why he did it. I have a very personal connection with Gould so all of his recordings stay with me no matter what. I appreciate the response though. Interesting to see another Eschenbach and a De Larrocha. I really do like Alecia's cycle. She's kind of the cross between Eschenbach and Pires for me. Not as lyrical as Pires and not as intense as Eschenbach. She's a really nice middle ground.

  15. #15
    Senior Member realdealblues's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    MI
    Posts
    358

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by kv466 View Post
    Smart man to keep the Glenn versions as no mere mortal can ever play in such a way...aside from that, I just recently heard the entire Eschenbach cycle and I would definitely give it my stamp of approval. I remember liking Alicia's stuff, too, but I haven't heard her in a long time.
    Amen. Glenn was one of a kind :-) Thanks for your thoughts, I appreciate them.
    kv466 likes this.

Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast

Similar Threads

  1. Your top 5 Beethoven piano sonatas cycles?
    By Itullian in forum Recorded Music and Publications
    Replies: 46
    Last Post: Jan-10-2013, 20:17
  2. Mozart: Piano Sonata in B flat, K. Anh. 136
    By Ostinato in forum Keyboard Instruments
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: Feb-26-2012, 00:45
  3. Short-like Sets/Cycles of Piano Works
    By SonataSonataSonata in forum Solo & Chamber Music
    Replies: 12
    Last Post: Oct-08-2010, 12:55
  4. Mozart Piano Sonata 18. K576 1st Movement
    By Pianoforte in forum Community Forum
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: Jul-25-2008, 13:59
  5. Part 3 of my new piano sonata
    By AndreasvanHaren in forum Today's Composers
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: Jun-11-2007, 13:57

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •