Founded in 1841 under the participation of Constanze Mozart, the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg today enjoys the highest reputation worldwide for its lively and style-conscious Mozart interpretations. In numerous ways, it connects the Viennese Classical period to the music of the 19th/20th, and 21st centuries. The orchestras' constant preoccupation with his core repertoire also shapes its approach to the music of later periods. Thus chamber-musical transparency, articulatory clarity, and nuanced sonority are a trademark that makes the Mozarteum Orchestra special and recognizable, also when playing the music of other composers. This CD is the first release of a series, which begins at the orchestras' programmatical core: Mozart, and ventures onto Richard Strauss, Anton Bruckner and Hans Werner Henze.

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli’s piano playing is highly praised for its tremendous reflectiveness. He could spend decades immersing himself in a piece in order to get to know it inside out. His art of touch, his wealth of overtones and his highly refined sense of sound are just as praiseworthy – qualities that came in especially useful for playing Chopin and Debussy. Michelangeli is, however, less known as a Mozart interpreter which makes these 1956 recordings with the orchestra of Süddeutscher Rundfunk conducted by Anton von Bavier so fascinating. Here, Michelangeli presents a life-affirming, even vigorous Mozart with almost Olympian pride. His manner of playing is always forward-pushing, at times boisterously passionate. In his interpretation there is no exaggerated sensitivity, no fiddling with sound, no over-reflectiveness and, in particular, no sentimentality in the slow movements.

REVIEW:

SWR has brought out Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli’s 1956 Ludwigsburg Festival Mozart K. 450 and 466 performances that ICA originally released back in 2013. Reviewing Michelangeli’s EMI 1950 studio recording of K. 450, I wrote how the pianist “subjects each phrase to finely-tuned gradations of touch and dynamic scaling, leaving not one note unscrutinized and unaccounted for.” That’s equally true here, albeit with faster tempos in the outer movements, plus additional vigor and continuity on the soloist’s part, and a better (if not particularly distinctive) orchestra.

Michelangeli’s astonishing command of the D minor concerto’s decorous figurations and strenuous left-hand broken octaves will keep most mortal pianists humble. If Michelangeli’s slow-movement dynamic taperings are decidedly “old-school” in the context of today’s leading Mozart practitioners, at least they’re not so caricatured as in his 1989 DG recording.

The slightly dry and drab-sounding SWR source tape seems to have been reproduced with relatively little intervention, in contrast to ICA’s boosted midrange and hint of added reverberation. Notwithstanding this release’s sonic and stylistic limitations, pianophiles will want to hear Michelangeli on prime form.

-- ClassicsToday.com (Jed Distler)

The second volume of the series by the title “Doktor Lichtenthals MOZART” by Pandolfis Consort playing on period instruments presents symphonies by W. A. Mozart in chamber music arrangements. Peter Lichtenthal, born Wolfgang Mayer in 1779 in Bratislava, was not only a physician, but also a composer and author, including of two Mozart biographies, to which high authenticity can be attributed due to his acquaintance with Constanze Mozart and his two sons Carl and Franz. As a great admirer of the genius Mozart, he created numerous transcriptions of Mozart’s works to make them performable in a small private setting. In this case, the symphonies No. 40 in G minor, K. 550, and “Jupiter” No. 41 in C major, K. 551, are set for string quintet.

"Nagano is a model of interpretative responsibility, meaning that she maintains a restrain appropriate to the anti-virtuoso path that's been chosen here." - Gramophone (Analetka)

The Korean pianist Su Yeon Kim achieved international acclaim when she won the first prize at the Concours musical international de Montréal 2021 and the second prize at the International Mozart Competition 2020 in Salzburg. For her debut album on the Steinway & Sons label Kim displays her passion and gift for performing the music of Mozart with some of his most beloved piano works as well as a few rarities.

“Mozart’s music is full of life and power, encompassing the full spectrum of human emotions and transcending all eras and cultural boundaries. Compiling this album brought me waves of joy, and the feeling of personal connection to Mozart's spirit.” -- Su Yeon Kim

In a fascinating musical interplay, the young, highly acclaimed pianist Anna Khomichko presents works from the 18th century on her debut CD in cooperation with SWR (Southwest Broadcasting). Mozart meets Bach's sons Carl Philipp Emanuel and Johann Christian, as well as the supposed rival and contemporary piano star Muzio Clementi. In the supple and clear piano playing of this critically acclaimed artist, the differences and similarities between the works, the personalities of the composers, and the tastes of the time emerge clearly. Khomichko, who is also a successful classical music blogger, thus takes up the cause for a wide-ranging, sensuous repertoire that is absolutely worth discovering.

For the sixth volume of this series devoted to Mozart performances by the young generation of soloists, the pianist Roman Borisov, who won First Prize at the Kissinger KlavierOlymp in 2022 when he was the youngest participant in the competition, has recorded the Concertos K413 and K415 with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. The French oboist Gabriel Pidoux, winner of the ‘Revelation’ award at the Victoires de la Musique Classique 2020, who recorded his first solo album for Alpha in 2022 (Romance, Alpha789), presents the famous Concerto K314, with the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, conducted as always by Howard Griffiths. The Orpheum Foundation, which has been supporting young musicians for more than thirty years, has joined forces with Alpha Classics for a series of recordings devoted to Mozart’s concertos for various instruments. The finest soloists of the young generation have been selected under the artistic direction of Howard Griffiths, a renowned Mozart conductor, who considers that playing his music is like ‘looking in a mirror: you can hear if everything is in place, musicality, intonation, rhythm, phrasing’.

Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) continues a celebrated project to record Mozart’s complete works for keyboard and orchestra, with this tenth volume of the series. Together with renowned scholar-pianist Robert Levin, and directed by Laurence Cummings and Bojan Cicic, AAM presents the Church Sonata No. 17 alongside the Piano Concerto No. 5 – Mozart’s first original keyboard concerto – both for orchestra and organ. The three K107 concertos are joined
by a concerto movement from the music book of Mozart’s sister, Nannerl, believed to have been drafted by Mozart as a young child, and completed here by Robert Levin. The hardback CD package is accompanied by comprehensive notes commissioned specially for the album.

Peter Lichtenthal, born Wolfgang Mayer in 1779 in Bratislava, was not only a physician, but also a composer and author, including of two Mozart biographies, to which high authenticity can be attributed due to his acquaintance with Constanze Mozart and his two sons Carl and Franz. As a great admirer of the genius Mozart, he created numerous transcriptions of Mozart’s works. On its first CD of a two-part series by the title “Doktor Lichtenthals MOZART”, which is now released, the Pandolfis Consort presents piano works by W. A. Mozart in arrangements by Lichtenthal. On period instruments, the Consort takes over the function of the entire orchestra as a string quartet in the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 20 in D minor, K. 466, featuring the Romanian pianist Aurelia Visovan on the likewise historic fortepiano. The Fantasy for Piano No. 4 in C minor, K. 475, and the Piano Sonata No. 14 in C minor, K. 457, also included on the CD, were extended by Peter Lichtenthal with a cello part, which is interpreted by Günter Schagerl.

The Orpheum Foundation, which has been supporting young musicians for more than thirty years, has joined forces with Alpha Classics for a series of recordings devoted to Mozart’s concertos for various instruments. The finest soloists of the young generation have been selected under the artistic direction of Howard Griffiths, a renowned Mozart conductor, who considers that playing his music is like ‘looking in a mirror: you can hear if everything is in place, musicality, intonation, rhythm, phrasing’. For this fifth volume, the American pianist Claire Huangci joins the Mozarteum-Orchester Salzburg and Howard Griffiths, her mentor for the past ten years. For her, she says, these concertos are ‘true musical revelations, works full of virtuosity and imagination’.

In his second disc of Mozart Concertos for Challenge Classics, Ben Kim confronts two great concertos like Nos. 24 and 25, both composed in Vienna in 1786. Both works are numbered among the masterpieces of the genre. The album reflects Mozart's artistic development and how it alienated his listeners, but also of the artist's own journey of finding confidence in vulnerability. His previous CC 72816 (Concertos Nos. 17 & 23) was welcomed by Gramophone: “his debut with Challenge reveals a sensitive touch … [his] performances give pleasure in their delivery of Mozart’s indelible melodic writing” and by BBC Music Magazine: “ … a recording that offers considerable rewards.”

Matthias Manasi is rated as one of the most sought-after and most outstanding conductors of his generation, earning himself a distinguished name both on the opera and concert podiums. With a diverse repertoire range he is recognized for his knowledgeable and insightful interpretations, encompassing the great symphonic and operatic repertoire, contemporary scores, and historically informed performances. He is celebrated for the extraordinary combination of precision and temperament of his conducting and the convincing depth of his musical understanding, The Austrian newspaper ‘Heute’ wrote after a concert: “Matthias Manasi delivered an outstanding performance in the legendary, heavenly acoustics of the Golden Hall of the Musikverein Vienna”. The ‘Factanet Rome’ wrote after a concert: “It was a great interpretation that added value to Manasi’s work and that proclaims him as one of the most important conductors of our time”.

Mozart created 22 stage works in his lifetime. This 10 CD box comprises the world-famous ‘evergreens’ in historical recordings from Vienna 1955. Soloists are Christa Ludwig, Lisa Della Casa, Hilde Gülden, Alfred Poell, Cesare Siepi, Fernando Corena, Kurt Böhme and many more.

REVIEW:

Böhm's conducting creates a slim, fluid Mozart sound in which the dynamic pendulum could swing a little more impulsively here and there, but which still has an instinctive feel for theatrical and dramaturgical diction on the one hand and interaction with the singers on the other.​

-- Klassik.com

The present Reflections juxtapose four composers of the so-called First and Second Viennese Schools, who became world-famous through many things – except compositions for organ. Pier Damiano Peretti, organist and composer as well as professor of organ at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, conceives an organ program framed by the two Fantasies in F minor K. 594 and K. 608 “for a mechanical clockwork organ” by W. A. Mozart. In addition, there are arrangements for organ by Franz Schubert of the Fugue in E minor op. 152 (D 952), the Fantasia in F minor for piano four hands op. 103 (D 940) and the Adagio in G major, D 178. The Six Little Piano Pieces op. 19 by Arnold Schönberg as well as the Variations for Piano op. 27 by Anton Webern are portraying the Second Viennese School. All arrangements were created by Peretti, who is performing on the Lenter organ of the Lutherische Stadtkirche Vienna.

Double-album project that represents the dualities in Mozart's music and life - light versus shade, human verses divine, life versus death, playful versus profound, disaster versus triumph. The 1st album focuses on the repertoire of a concert Mozart gave in Leipzig in May 1789 in a very difficult period in his life. The 2nd enters around a final trip to his beloved Prague (Aug. 1791) where his opera, Clemenza di Tito, was premiered and he conceived his Clarinet Concerto, having presented his Prague Symphony there some years earlier.

This is Martin Frost's 3rd recording of this work and is performed here on Mozart's favorite instrument, the Basset Clarinet. This also includes the first recordings of Frost conducting.

“Every performance of a work is its own statement, contains its own truth…. This release marks exactly 20 years, almost a generation, since my first recording of the work, and exactly 10 years since my second. The world has changed immeasurably in that time. I have changed, both as an artist and as a person. And we change as listeners.” - Martin Frost