Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Concertos Nos. 21 & 22 (Annie Fischer)

Information

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

1. Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467: I. Allegro maestoso (Cadenza by Busoni)
2. Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467: II. Andante
3. Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467: III. Allegro vivace assai (Cadenza by Busoni)
4. Piano Concerto No. 22 in E flat major, K. 482: I. Allegro (Cadenza by Hummel)
5. Piano Concerto No. 22 in E flat major, K. 482: II. Andante
6. Piano Concerto No. 22 in E flat major, K. 482: III. Rondo (Allegro)

Annie Fischer, piano
Philharmonia Orchestra
Wolfgang Sawallisch, conductor

Date: 1959/2004
label: EMI

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Review

Although these concertos were previously reissued on Seraphim in 1995 (from recordings made originally in 1958), this new reincarnation is a welcome addition to the “Great Recordings of the Century” series from EMI Classics, serving as they do to keep Annie Fischer’s peerless Mozart available to listeners. These are among her finest recordings, serving to reinforce her reputation as one of the greatest pianists of the last century. Fischer’s reputation for fierce self-criticism prevented her Beethoven sonatas from being released until she died in 1995 and her ban became moot. But no such problem existed with her Mozart concertos and her partnership with Sawallisch, which engendered a rare perfection in solo and accompaniment, even when Fischer plays with some expressive freedom.

In the C-Major Concerto (still idiotically dubbed “Elvira Madigan,” although the movie featuring the slow movement has virtually disappeared from public interest), Fischer is spirited and vivacious in the outer movements, and beautifully hushed and eloquent in the slow movement. The woodwinds provide chirpy solos, and the ensemble is perfect. Fischer plays the virtuosic cadenzas composed by Busoni for the first and third movements, and with their prevailing late-Romantic chromaticism, they strike a somewhat bizarre note. However, the pianist’s brilliant technique carries them off.

The E-flat Concerto is the real gem here: not one of the most popular of Mozart’s mature concertos, it is noteworthy for the unusual sonority produced by the prominent clarinet parts, and for the extraordinarily beautiful, profound slow movement in C Minor. In the first movement, Fischer plays a cadenza by Hummel—stylistically more appropriate than the anachronism of Busoni, and equally brilliant in Annie Fischer’s hands.

The digital remastering process includes something called “noise shaping via the Prism SNS system”; whatever that technique involves, the sound, like the performances, is vivid and rich.

-- Susan Kagan, FANFARE

More reviews:
ClassicsToday  ARTISTIC QUALITY: 10 / SOUND QUALITY: 7
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2004/Jun04/Mozart_Fischer.htm
http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/e/emi62767a.php
http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_cd_review.php?id=1754

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 in Salzburg – 5 December 1791 in Vienna) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. Till his death in Vienna, he composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, operatic, and choral music. Mozart is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers, and his influence is profound on subsequent Western art music.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Amadeus_Mozart

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Annie Fischer (July 5, 1914 – April 10, 1995) was a Hungarian classical pianist. She studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest with Ernő Dohnányi and won the International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in 1933. Her interpretations of Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert and Schumann, as well as Hungarian composers like Béla Bartók receive the highest praise from pianists and critics. Fischer's legacy includes significant studio recordings from the 1950s, many live concert recordings that have been released on CD and DVD, and a studio-made integral set of the complete Beethoven piano sonatas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Fischer

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