Zino Francescatti never made a better disc than his 1958 coupling of Mozart's Violin Concertos Nos. 3 in G, K216 and 4 in D, K218. The Californian sound is again warm and well balanced and Walter and the Columbia Symphony provide affectionate, immaculately turned accompaniments. The slow movements are slightly romantic in feeling, but agreeably so, and the overall impression is one of freshness combined with the performers' love for the music.

-- Gramophone [8/1995]

"The G minor Quintet receives a very fine, very substantial performance from this period-instrument group. The opening Allegro goes at quite a lively tempo but there is a real breadth to the rhythms and an expansiveness of phrasing which ensure that the scale of the music is properly realized, with considerable intensity at the contrapuntal climaxes of the recapitulation, surely the movement's high points. The minuet is quite brisk, considering that Mozart marked it Allegretto (presumably that was intended to mean 'slower than usual'), and a bit uncompromising, with the chords almost brutal. But the Adagio is wonderfully done, slow, deeply serious, with real tenderness and warmth. I wished only that the players would occasionally give themselves a little more space to articulate the changes in texture and mood more distinctly, and to let the music breathe. The finale, after an introduction of fine concentration, moves with great fire and energy: no sense, as sometimes with this movement, of an easy G major let-down after all the G minor passion. The passion never falters."

-- Gramophone [9/1995]

"...Recordings of a work like the Trout always have a problem due to the difficulties of balance between piano and a small string ensemble. In this instance the engineers have avoided the pitfalls and have come up with a good balance. A fresh sounding, lively performance appeals with the important piano part played tastefully by Emanuel Ax and a pleasing degree of shading and contrasts from the strings. Good ensemble playing from a highly regarded group... The String Quintet version of Eine Kleine Nachtsmusik makes a welcome second item. More normally heard in a chamber orchestra version, this minimised Mozart (an option from the time of its composition) is a refreshing change. To hear the five lines (two violin parts not a doubling) is a delight, and the 'authentic' movement of recent years must take some credit for the greater appreciation the reduction gives... [An] attractively compiled CD..." -- Harry Downey, MusicWeb International

Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 21 & 26

Alicia de Larrocha will always be remembered as one of the most idiomatic and poetic interpreters of Spanish piano music, but this beloved artist – born in Barcelona in 1923 to two pianists – was hardly less devoted to Mozart. In the 1990s, towards the end of her career, she undertook a series of concerto recordings for RCA with Sir Colin Davis – one of the great Mozartians of his time – conducting the English Chamber Orchestra, formidable Mozart veterans themselves. Now collected for the first time in a 6-album set, these performances were widely admired by music lovers and critics. Gramophone wrote: “In their transparency and vitality these performances are outstanding. Sir Colin’s partnership is affectionate and exemplary [Nos. 25 and 27].” And of their collaboration in Nos. 19 and 27: “Sir Colin’s unforced way with the opening tutti of K 595, his awareness of ‘all passion spent’ is haunting but unobtrusive. Such sensitivity is effortlessly mirrored by Larrocha with her enviable ease, her avoidance of all artifice or attention-seeking dalliance. Few other pianists are more attuned to Mozart’s mix of pain and radiance.”

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

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SONATAS FOR PIANO AND VIOLIN K

Also available on Blu-ray

Mozart’s trilogy of operas composed to librettos by Lorenzo Da Ponte delight and entertain audiences with their combination of sublime music and their mix of humor, romance and drama.

Cosi Fan Tutte, also known as ‘the school for lovers,’ stars a cast of young rising stars, conducted by Semyon Bychkov, in this 2016 production playfully set in a theatre. Kasper Holten’s production of Don Giovanni reveals the inner turmoil of the eponymous antihero, sung by Mariusz Kwiecien.

Erwin Schrott, Miah Persson and Gerald Finley star in David McVicar’s production of Le nozze di Figaro, one of the world’s most beloved operas."Kwiecien’s eloquently sung Giovanni heads a strong cast. Particularly impressive is Malin Byström’s Donna Anna, whose moving Non mi dir is addressed not to Don Ottavio but first to her dead father (via his bust) and then to Giovanni himself. Véronique Gens offers a sympathetic Donna Elvira, impassioned rather than hysterical in her inability to give up on Giovanni. Even in Leporello’s Catalogue Aria she embraces Giovanni, willing it not to be true. Alex Esposito’s resourceful Leporello also seems to be smitten by Giovanni, as is Elizabeth Watts’s lively, engaging Zerlina. Nicola Luisotti draws sensuous playing from the ROH orchestra, he and Paul Wingfield generating daring and witty dissonances in their keyboard continuo." (The Evening Standard - Giovanni) "…This success is no doubt also down to a shining cast: Corinne Winters’s rich-toned Fiordiligi contrasts with Angela Brower’s lighter lyrical Dorabella; Daniel Behle fetchingly adopts gentle head-tone colouring in Un Aura Amorosa and Alessio Arduini is a virile Guglielmo. Sabina Puertolas exudes street-smart confidence as Despina and Johannes Martin Kranzle delights in his role as social architect. Semyon Bychkov draws richly varied colours from the Royal Opera Orchestra, though occasionally favours slow tempos." (The Stage)

Mozart, W.A.: Piano Concertos Nos. 20 and 23

FANTASIAS & SONATAS

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Ssens Trio (pronounced "Essence") was established in 2014 by three musicians with a wealth of experience in the international music scene. The trio has appeared in concert with Geir Inge Lotsberg, Elvind Ringstad, Havard Gimse and Leif Ove Andsnes, among others. Their first album, "Beethoven: String Trio Op. 3 & Serenade Op. 8" received Pizzicato Magazine's "Supersonic Award" and a prestigious ICMA Awards nomination in 2018. Fanfare Magazine wrote: "With absolutely no hesitation I will say that it goes right to the top of my Beethoven String Trios list." (Jerry Dubins). And the following from a review in Pizzicato Magazine under the heading 'Beethoven With A Communicative Joy of Music Making:' "Their performance is brimming with the joy of playing together. An outstanding 'trialogue,' with each performer fully sensing the other. Through this interactive music-making, which in the Adagio and Minuet movements invokes a remarkably intimate mood, Beethoven's works gain in depth and sensuousness. And when one combines the sensitive playing with a wonderfully eloquent virtuosity, the way is clear for pure listening pleasure." (Alain Steffen)