A landmark Mozart recording in which Cecilia Batoli, in sensational form, joins Nikolaus Harnoncourt and his Concentus Musicus Wein for a concert performance recorded in Graz, Austria.

The caliber of the Nishizaki-Loeb partnership is outstanding. They provide expressive playing that is light and delicate. Their performances overflow with imagination and a high degree of intimacy. Nishizaki is highly experienced and has sold possibly the most recordings of any violinist. She has the advantage of a technique that is comfortably secure with a pleasing tone that is crisp and cool. There is a purity to her playing, fused with a relaxed manner that is hard to resist. The elaborate piano part in the hands of Loeb is natural and unforced. The duo's choice of speeds tends to be rather on the slow side for my taste. However, in the allegro of K570 (track 6) the players demonstrate that they can quicken when they choose. I especially enjoyed their sensitive performance of the adagio of the Sonata K570 which is tender and highly compelling. Also impressive is the closing movement rondo of the same Sonata, dazzlingly played with joy and vitality, and totally free of affectation. Something special is also happening in the Sonata, K403 at several points in the allegro - allegretto (track 4) especially at points 1.27-2.11; 3.30-4.09 and 5.18-6.26 where the unison playing is exceptional.

The second part of the latest Mozart trilogy by pianist Paul Badura-Skoda on the period fortepiano is entirely characterized by tragedy. The sequence of tragic minor works by Mozart during his Vienna years, concluding with the unfinished Requiem of 1791, include the Fantasias in c, KV 475 and d, KV 397 as well as the subdued and moving Adagio in B minor: lamenting, menacing, but also, typifying Mozart, glorifying and conciliatory notes – laughing amongst tears. His last Piano Sonata in D major, by contrast, links cheerful elegance to polyphonic structural depth and outshines the previous gloom.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

The clarinet player uses his instrument as billiard cue. This little provocation on the cover indicates what is going on. It's common knowledge that Mozart composed these pieces not long before his death. But for Dirk Altmann (and booklet author Katharina Eickhoff) they are not the creations of an angel on the way to heaven but were written in a very earthly environment a part of which was playing billiards with his friend and clarinet player Anton Stadler. What happens when the clarinet concerto is played exempt of romantic, nearly religious enhancement? We hear the inspirations of a joyful genius. Surely you want to know more

A recital by Piero Scarpini, the pianist who put his art at the service of 20th Century music, is always a source of stimulating modernity, even when he sits at the piano and plays masterpieces of the past. Those who are familiar with Scarpini and his personal conflict with contemporary music, know in fact, that his Bach, his Mozart, and his Beethoven can not be solely "some works" selected at random from any pianist's repertoire, but they will always be "that" Bach, "that" Mozart, and "that" Beethoven, which for their interpreter are the most innovative and in some way "contemporary." These live recordings were taken from Scarpini recitals dated 1953, 1961, and 1974.

Praised by The New York Times for her ‘clear articulation … unequivocal phrasing … [and] expressivity’, Ingrid Jacoby has established herself as one of her generation’s most poetic and admired pianists.Winner of numerous prizes and competitions, she has, since moving to England, performed with many major orchestras, including the LSO, the LPO and the RPO, as well as the London Mozart Players, and worked with many eminent conductors.Her new recording of Mozart’s Concertos K467 and K488, complete with the Rondo K386, and accompanied by the internationally celebrated ASMF conducted by Sir Neville Marriner, follows on from her acclaimed earlier recording of the Concertos K449 and K595 which received excellent reviews from Int’l Record Review, Gramophone and Fanfare magazines, among others.The accompanying booklet contains notes by Richard Wigmore and personal insights by Ingrid Jacoby on Mozart.

In 1778, Mozart spent half a year in Paris accompanied by his mother, Anna Maria. Tragedy struck in the middle of the summer, when she died of fever. Both works on this album were composed during the first weeks after their arrival in the city. In a letter to his father dated April 7, 1778, Mozart wrote that he had composed a sinfonia concertante for Mannheim musicians visiting Paris, scored for flute, oboe, horn, and bassoon. The work on this recording is considered to be a revised copy of the score, with the flute replaced by a clarinet.

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Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio) is a three act opera Singspiel by W. A. Mozart. With libretto by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner, the plot follows the attempt of Belmonte and his servant Pedrillo to rescue his Konstanze from the seraglio of Pasha Selim. This production comes from the Glyndebourne Chorus, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenmnent conducted by Robin Ticciati. Director David McVicar has strived in this production to give an original-period version of the opera. The costuming from Vicki Mortimer and the sets add to the dazzling performance. “Mesmerising, sensitive, at times troublingly erotic, the whole thing forces us to rethink a remarkable work. Outstanding.” (The Guardian)

Well-known for spearheading a general revival of interest in, and modernizing the performance practices of Baroque music, especially Bach, after WWII, Karl Richter (1926-81) also conducted works by composers other than Bach, including Handel and Mozart. Heard here conducting the choral and orchestral forces he founded in mid-20th c., the Munchener Bach-Chor and Munchener Bach-Orchester, this performance of Mozart's Requiem, KV626 features a stellar company of soloists, including sopranos Maria Stader, Hertha Toepper and the fine Dutch-born lyric tenor John van Kesteren.

TRANSKRIPTIONEN

With Johann Adolph Hasse Reloaded (Oc 830), Valer Sabadus Became the Shooting Star Amongst Countertenors. In December 2013, He Appeared in Mozart Roles for the Styriarte. The Salzburg Master Wrote Them for Some of the Greatest Castrati of His Time: Rauzzini, Consoli, Bedini. The Young Interpreter Must Therefore Sing Up Into the Heights of the Soprano Range; He Succeeds in This Wonderfully, As He Also Does in the Exploration of Profound Feelings. With His Mentor Michael Hofstetter Is on the Podium, His Flawlessly Beautiful Singing Is Supported By the Orchestra's Pulsing Mozartian Vitality.