Piano Sonatas BWV330, 331 & 570 - Mozart

...concentrating exclusively on the Beethoven Piano Sonatas and Piano Concertos, Brendel, whilst always being limited to some, (not inconsiderable, it seems) extent by physical problems in and around the areas of his back and arms, is now free to explore other music avenues.

This is the second disk of Brendel's Mozart with which we have been presented over the recent past; the other being his account of two of the concertos. Here we have ...
...Brendel has long been considered as being a Mozartian of zest and insight. But, for me at least, his interprtations of this Master can seem a little quirky. Its as if he doesn't, in some way, relate to the personality and musical language of Mozart with quite the same success as he does with those of Beethoven or of some of the other composers Brendel has studied over the years. Nevertheless, Brendel must still be considered one of the great living ... more

After having spent quite some time, both in the studio and the concert hall, concentrating exclusively on the Beethoven Piano Sonatas and Piano Concertos, Brendel, whilst always being limited to some, (not inconsiderable, it seems) extent by physical problems in and around the areas of his back and arms, is now free to explore other music avenues.

This is the second disk of Brendel's Mozart with which we have been presented over the recent past; the other being his account of two of the concertos. Here we have performances of 3 of the unaccompanied sonatas.

Brendel has long been considered as being a Mozartian of zest and insight. But, for me at least, his interprtations of this Master can seem a little quirky. Its as if he doesn't, in some way, relate to the personality and musical language of Mozart with quite the same success as he does with those of Beethoven or of some of the other composers Brendel has studied over the years. Nevertheless, Brendel must still be considered one of the great living pianists, and by many, one of its greastest living interpreters of Mozart and here he turns in classic performances, ones which are constantly enriched by the great man's wisdom and deep sensibility.

Brendel is often called an "intellectual" pianist or "the thinking man's virtuoso" and on this disk, we can find justification for these opinions. One feels that every bar, every note has been carefully, maybe over-carefully, studied and pondered at length and so articulation, phrasing and a sense of an overarching feeling of musical structure are all, always, present. But one cannot help but feel that Brendel fails to achieve an adequate balance between this intellectual control and an authentic expression of the childish, playful Mozartian spirit in the way that Sir Clifford Curzon, for example, used to invariably do. I think that we are not hearing the composer's authentic voice here.

Brendel fans will not be disappointed; others may not be fully satisfied.

Sound quality is first class throughout.
 

...less