Search - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Malcolm Bilson :: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Sonatas, Vol. I - Malcolm Bilson, fortepiano

Mellifulous

David Saemann | 06/11/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Bilson plays here on a copy of a c. 1780 Anton Walter fortepiano that once belonged to Mozart. It has a full tone, with an appealing raspiness to the bass, all of which seems to be very well captured by the recording engineer. Bilson adds ornamentation in some instances, although he says he keeps it at a minimum because it is really only intended for live performance and can be annoying on repeated listening. If you wish for another option on fortepiano, Anthony Newman's renditions on Newport Classics were very good and may not be too hard to find. I am very fond of these works, and find that Beethoven's sonatas can seem clumsy after a listening to Mozart's. I have complete sets of the sonatas on piano with Uchida, Krauss, Gould, and a set on Nimbus with a Roumanian pianist named Marta Deyanova. These are all very good, as are many of the single discs I have by other pianists. Nevertheless, Bilson is the equal of any of them. His tempos are sensible, and he pays great attention to dynamics, not something every fortepiano player does. In the Turkish sonata, I still like Brendel's analogue Philips recording very much, but Bilson packs a real punch in the cumulative moments. This is an excellent way to experience the sometimes hidden pathways of Mozart's genius."