Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Concertos Nos. 20, 23, 24 & 25 (Ivan Moravec)

Information

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

CD1:

• (01-03) Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K 466
• (04-06) Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K 488

CD2:

• (01-03) Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K 491
• (04-06) Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major, K 503

Ivan Moravec, piano
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
Neville Marriner, conductor

Date: 1995 (CD2), 1997 (CD1)
Label: Hänssler

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Review

Under the Radar: Moravec’s Magnificent Mozart

In these days of mega-disc boxed sets, it’s easy to overlook the best individual performances of specific works, but these two discs of Mozart concertos, originally recorded for Hänssler Classic (and still available there too), stand with the finest versions on disc. Moravec is a perfect Mozart pianist. His exquisite touch allows him to inflect the simplest melodic lines, filling the music with variety, color, and warmth without a trace of mannerism. Just listen to his handling of the main theme in the C minor concerto’s Larghetto. Everything has been considered: the balance between the hands, the articulation, the dynamics on the repeated notes at the end of the phrase, but it all sounds perfectly natural, flowing, and alive. 

However, Moravec offers much more than just a dainty touch. Like his idol, Walter Gieseking, he is able to summon a full, powerful sonority from the instrument without banging. In the quick movements, and especially the cadenzas, there is no want of excitement, but also no loss of control. He effortlessly holds his own against Marriner’s excellent accompaniments–the lead-in to the cadenza in the D minor concerto’s finale offers a telling example. It’s also great to hear Moravec tackle (for the second time, actually) Concerto No. 25 in C major, one of Mozart’s very greatest but least appreciated mature piano concertos. In this piece Moravec plays interesting cadenzas by Carl Reinecke, and in No. 24 he uses those by Edwin Fischer.

Piano connoisseurs know that Moravec is a genius, but his reputation has lagged behind his stature for a number of reasons, not least of which is the fact that he has never had a steady affiliation with any single label. Add to that his limited repertoire and ridiculously high standards, and it’s easy to understand why he remains a pianists’s pianist. Still, virtually everything he recorded is a gem, and that is nowhere more true than in these performances. They are a must for any serious collector.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday

More reviews:
http://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Piano-Concertos-20-23/dp/B000009D79
http://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Piano-Concertos-Nos-491/dp/B000003JSS
http://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Piano-Concertos-Ivan-Moravec/dp/B004ROY1TG

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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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Ivan Moravec (9 November 1930 – 27 July 2015) was a Czech concert pianist whose performing and recording career spanned nearly half a century. Moravec studied with Erna Grünfeld, Ilona Štěpánová-Kurzová and attend master classes in Arezzo with Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. Moravec had a reputation for attention to the condition of the pianos he played. Moravec's recordings for the Connoisseur Society were notable for their audiophile quality, and he also recorded for several other labels, including Vox, Nonesuch, Dorian, Hänssler, and Supraphon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Moravec

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/ivan-moravec-mn0001644567/biography

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