Search - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Nadia Reisenberg, Artur Balsam :: Mozart: Music for Piano Four Hands

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Nadia Reisenberg, Artur Balsam
Mozart: Music for Piano Four Hands
Genre: Classical

Track Listings (14) - Disc #1
1. Sonata in D Major, K. 381
2. Sonata in D Major, K. 381
3. Sonata in D Major, K. 381
4. Sonata in C Major, K. 521
5. Sonata in C Major, K. 521
6. Sonata in C Major, K. 521
7. Adagio and Allegro in f minor, K. 594
8. Adagio and Allegro in f minor, K. 594
9. Sonata in B-flat Major, K. 358
10. Sonata in B-flat Major, K. 358
11. Sonata in B-flat Major, K. 358
12. Sonata in F Major, K. 497
13. Sonata in F Major, K. 497
14. Sonata in F Major, K. 497

CD Details

All Artists: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Nadia Reisenberg, Artur Balsam
Title: Mozart: Music for Piano Four Hands
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Bridge
Release Date: 6/22/2004
Genre: Classical
Styles: Chamber Music, Historical Periods, Classical (c.1770-1830), Modern, 20th, & 21st Century
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 090404914829

Synopsis

Album Description

These classic recordings, originally released on LPs by Musical Heritage Society, now brought to CD for the first time, bring together two of the leading Mozart pianists of their generation?Nadia Reisenberg and Artur Balsam. Reisenberg was born in Russia, studying there with Leonid Nicolaieff (the teacher of Shostakovich, among many other leading Russian pianists). In the USA, Ms. Reisenberg studied with the legendary Josef Hoffman, at the Curtis Institute. Among Ms. Reisenberg's outstanding achievements, was the performance of all 27 Piano Concertos of Mozart. Ms. Reisenberg taught at Curtis, NYU, USC, and the Jerusalem Academy. Artur Balsam was born in Poland, and won the First Prize in the Berlin Competition of 1930, and the Mendelssohn Prize in Berlin in 1931. Balsam recorded hundreds of works of both the solo and chamber repertoire, including all of Mozart's solo music, and recorded Sonatas with Nathan Milstein, Zino Francescatti, Joseph Fuchs and Zara Nelsova, among many others. A number of Balsam's chamber performances can be heard on BRIDGE 9063, 9066, and 9110.

CD Reviews

Superlative performances ruined by distorted sound

Richard Steiger | Murray, KY USA | 05/13/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Let me say at once that I have no problem listening to old piano recordings. My collection includes many works from the '20s and '30s played by pianists like Cortot and Schnabel. I make allowances for the surface noise and lack of tonal allure. What I can't tolerate, however, is distortion. These performaces, by Reisenberg and Balsam, are on the highest level musically and technically. I would recommend them without hesitation as superlative performances of some of Mozart's finest piano music (the four hand sonatas are generally superior to the solo sonatas). Actually the piano sound per se is perfectly acceptable on this disc. What is unacceptable, however, is the distorted sound of the upper treble, which produces an irritating twang whenever those notes are sounded (as, of course, they often are in four hand music). I don't know if the cause is the piano itself or the degeneration of the original masters, but whatever the cause, I find it difficult to listen to such distortion. So it's caveat emptor with this cd. IF you can get beyond the distortion, you'll be treated to magical performaces. The three stars are a compromise between five stars for the performaces and one star for the distortion."