Search - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart :: Mozart: Great Piano Concertos, Nos. 20, 21, 25 & 27 [Germany]

Unsurpassable performances by a true Mozartian with the true

Abel | Hong Kong | 06/18/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a set of invaluable recordings by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra with the late great Mozartian pianist Friedrich Gulda.

Claudio Abbado, who takes the baton in these performances at the 'altar' of the VPO the Vienna Muskeverin, is the student of F. Gulda.

This is the ONLY set of Mozart Concertos recorded by F. Gulda for DG, and the producer Rainer Brock was the major DG producer for the works of Claudio Abbado until his death in the early 1980's.

I mention specifically Rainer Brock, because if you would notice, the celebrated recordings of Claudio Abbado, and in particular the early spectacular piano recordings of Maurizio Pollini, were all undertaken by him for DG.

It was quite a pity that Gulda fell out with DG so fast. Otherwise, in his absolute prime, Gulda would have left a wealth of Mozart recordings with this label in the 1970's.

For that matter,I find absolutely nothing in these recordings to fault the sonics, which are thousands of times better than the modern 21st century DG outputs for piano works.

As for the performances, you would rarely find such masterful performances of Mozart's most popular concertos by such top-notch artists. I emphasize this point, since no matter how good the recordings of Uchida or Perahia on these works in their respective complete sets, they fail to surpass Friedrich Gulda and Abbado on these particular pieces recorded here, in particular that their respective sets did not have the superior orchestral backing from the VPO.

It is a real pity that F. Gulda did not leave a complete set of recordings for Mozart's piano concerti, a fact similarly pathetic as in the case of the other late great Mozartian Clara Haskil.

We are left with second rates of Perahia and Uchida to fill the insurmountable gap in modern classical music discography."

Poorly re-mastered Mozart

Robert B. Pincus | studio city, ca USA | 05/31/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The piano sound on these mid-1970s analogue recordings receives a tinny, metallic digital re-mastering. Right hand passagework tends to have a hard-edged sheen. Too bad for Friedrich Gulda fans, since the performances are keen and supple."