As with this series' previous nine volumes, Siegbert Rampe programs familiar and obscure Mozart keyboard music in interesting juxtapositions, dividing the works among clavichord, harpsichord, and fortepiano. Those who've followed Rampe's Mozart up to this point will not be surprised to find the keyboardist going hog wild with ornaments and embellishments upon repeats, especially on the clavichord. Listen, for example, to the K. 279 C major sonata's outer movements, where percussive noises accompany note attacks as if a flamenco dancer had sneaked into the recording studio, together with the funkiest pitch bending I've heard since the Mini-Moog's heyday.

On fortepiano, Rampe's affetuoso inflections sound a bit "much" in the K. 353 variations, yet judicious timing and fluidity characterize his expressive flexibility in the B minor Adagio. Rampe saves his (relatively) straightest interpretations for the harpsichord, bringing welcome vigor and rhythmic pomp to the youthful K. 11 sonata, the D major Clavierstück, and the K. 460 variations fragment. The sonics lack impact and detail, but still convey what these instruments sound like in a small venue.

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

Includes work(s) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Soloist: Siegbert Rampe.

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.



MOZART Church Sonatas Nos. 1–17. Andante in F , K 616 • Daniel Chorzempa (org); Helmut Winschermann, cond; German Bach Sol • PENTATONE 5186 150 (2 SACDs: 91:12)


Sonatas: No. 1 in E? , K 67; No. 2 in B? , K 68; No. 3 in D , K 69; No. 4 in D , K 144; No. 5 in F , K 145; No. 6 in B? , K 212; No. 7 in F , K 224; No. 8 in A , K 225; No. 9 in G , K 241; No. 10 in F , K 244; No. 11 in D , K 245; No. 12 in C , K 263; No. 13 in G , K 274; No. 14 in C , K 278; No. 15 in C , K 328; No. 16 in C , K 329; No. 17 in C , K 336


Back in 2003, I wrote up for Fanfare the first eight releases in PentaTone’s RQR (Remastered Quadro Recording) series, which restored the four-channel versions of Philips programs from the 1960s and 1970s that had never seen the light of day as surround-sound LPs. It’s remarkable how many of these untouched-for-decades tapes there are. As of this writing, PentaTone has more than 70 RQR SACDs in its catalog.


Mozart composed the 17 church sonatas over the course of a decade, part of his responsibility to the despised Prince-Archbishop Colloredo. These short works are also known as the “Epistle Sonatas,” as they were performed in the course of a religious service between the Epistle and the Gospel—though there’s nothing especially “sacred” about them. Daniel Chorzempa, Helmut Winschermann, and the German Bach Soloists give performances that are fresh, energetic, stylish, and blissfully unconcerned with historical correctness. Most of the sonatas were written for a chamber group of two violins, double bass, and organ, and even for these, a moderate-sized string orchestra is employed, making the impression of a Mozart divertimento or serenade. Despite the low Köchel numbers of the earlier pieces, there’s no juvenilia here; at 15, Mozart, of course, was already a mature composer. In fact, the very first sonata, K 67 in E?, all of 2:20 in length, is arguably the most profound if not the most advanced, possessing a slightly wistful, singing quality. There’s the ethos of operatic Mozart in the air. Several of the later works are scored with winds and timpani, and the effect is predictably grander.


On the Helios label (the original release 20 years ago was on Hyperion), Richard King, organist Ian Watson, and The King’s Consort offer performances that may be more musicologically proper—one-to-a-part for the early sonatas—but the music-making is less consistently vital. King, too, mixes up the order of presentation, which does avoid having four C-Major works in a row to conclude the program. But by proceeding chronologically, Winschermann and Chorzempa allow us to enjoy the evolution of the organ’s role from continuo instrument to full-fledged soloist (in K 336), as well as Mozart’s development as a composer. For a bonus, Chorzempa’s charming reading of the late Andante in F for mechanical organ closes out disc 2.


Chorzempa plays the “little church organ” of the Stift Wilhering, a mid-18th-century instrument that Bruckner was fond of. The orchestra is recorded closely but the multichannel program gives a nice sense of the church, especially at pauses between phrases and at the end of each sonata. The organ blends seamlessly into the instrumental sonority for the earlier sonatas, as it should, but sounds out proudly in the more celebratory moments of the final pieces.


FANFARE: Andrew Quint

A large measure of Mozart's increasing fascination with the clarinet from the later 1780s was due to his interaction with one of the cutting-edge virtuosi of the day, Anton Stadler, for whom both of the works on this CD were composed as well as the Clarinet Concerto, K. 662. Both works are played here by Australian virtuoso, Owen Watkins on reproductions of period clarinets, including a basset instrument, with extended lower range, for the Clarinet Quintet in A major, K. 581. Jaap Schr�der, an expert in the violin repertoire of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, founded the Sk�lholt Quartet and lead the Quartetto Esterhazy and Smithson String Quartet, performing and recording classical quartet repertoire for the first time on period instruments. Oboist Owen Watkins has performed and recorded with many premier ensembles in the USA, Europe and Australia, including Boston Baroque, the Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Camerata, Washington Bach Consort, Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Pinchgut Opera and Orchestra of the Antipodes, Orchestra 1788 and the Cambini Quintet. A faculty member of the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute for twenty-five years, Penelope Crawford is internationally acclaimed as one of America's master performers on historical keyboard instruments. From 1975 to 1990, she was harpsichordist and fortepianist with the Ars Musica Baroque Orchestra, one of the first period instrument ensembles in North America.

Classical Music

Originally composed as so-called 'acoustical fillers' for the liturgy, Mozart's Church Sonatas are nonetheless anything but occasional compositions. Organist Johannes Geffert and the Johann Christian Bach Academy prove, with the present recording, that these works are autonomous works in their own right with significant musical content. The interpreters' joy in performing, together with their perfect craftsmanship and, in terms of sound engineering, the transparent transformation of the sound of historical instruments, allow these seemingly occasional pieces to flourish as little personalities.

Mozart: The Complete Church Sonatas

Classical Music

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART:Elisabeth Norberg-Schultz; Marianna Pizzolata; Cinzia Forte; Desiree Rancatore; Bernard Berchtold; Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Comunale di Bologna/Ottavio Dantone; Michal Znaniecki, director; NTS WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART: Ascanio in Alba KV 111.

Classical Music

Martha Argerich is universally recognized as one of the preeminent pianists of all time. This CD includes broadcasts from 1960, before she won the Chopin International Competition and became world famous. All of the recordings are released on CD for the first time here.

L. MOZART Divertimento in F, “Musical Sleigh Ride.” Cassation in G, “Toy Symphony.” Symphonies: in D; in G, “ Sinfonia da caccia” • Hans Stadlmair, cond; Munich CO • TUDOR 737 (59:03)


Hans Stadlmair has been artistic director of the Munich Chamber Orchestra since 1956. This CD reveals an excellence of conducting and playing of Classical music off the beaten path. Leopold Mozart is more famous as the father of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart than as a composer in his own right. The music on this disc supports history’s judgment as to the source of his fame. Yet some of this music can play an important role in propagating the greater Classical pieces.


The “Musical Sleigh Ride” and the “Toy Symphony” are among those vital pieces that serve young children as introductions to classical music. The “Toy Symphony” has been variously attributed to several composers, among them one of the Haydns (the famous Joseph and his lesser-known brother, Michael) and Leopold Mozart, who is the current winner of the attributions.


The most interesting piece in this collection is the “Sinfonia da caccia,” with its opening movement depicting a hunt ( a caccia ), complete with yelping hounds, galloping hoofs, and, most effectively, firing shotguns. This is another great piece for kids. Unless your child is another Mendelssohn/Mozart/Schubert genius, this music is a good way to lead him or her to discover The Art of Fugue 20 or 30 years hence, with a way station at the Beethoven symphonies.


Get this disc for your kids or grandkids! But not if you consider hunting and guns inappropriate for young children. Get it for yourself, to experience the caccia —vicariously perhaps, but without mammalian casualties!


FANFARE: Burton Rothleder

Classical Music

Includes work(s) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Ensemble: Moscow Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Rudolf Barshai. Soloist: Sviatoslav Richter.

Classical Music