Search - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra :: Mozart: The 5 Violin Concertos

Beauty made repulsive

H. W. A. Leeuwen | 10/29/1999

(1 out of 5 stars)

"In my life of Mozart-worship, the only interpretation of his music that I can't stand is this one. (I couldn't even make it through the first movement of the second concerto.) Harnoncourt does something disgusting to the music--I can't quite define it, but I know it involves removing the cantabile element of the music, which is essential to Mozart's style. Kremer's playing is very good, but he is under the spell of the conductor, and his playing suffers for it. Harnoncourt's recordings of Mozart's operas have been harshly criticized (including many pleas that he avoid Mozart for Mozart's sake), perhaps we can see why."

Mozart - 5 violin concertos / Harnoncourt

H. W. A. Leeuwen | Voorschoten, Netherlands | 01/10/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Magnificently performed. Harnoncourt drives the vienna philharmonic to before unreached heights. The musival content of his vision, the power thereof, and the mirror it produces for the listener is most unsettling. Here is music at its best, not necessarily beautifull, but confronting, harsh sometimes even aggressive. Harnoncourt knows about PEOPLE and how they work..."

Two mavericks re-think Mozart style

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 08/28/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I can sympathize with the turned-ff reviewers here. Neither gidon Kremer nor Nikolaus Harnoncourt have any interest in the pretty, flowing, cantabile Mozart style that prevails in concert halls. They want to evoke new feelings in every bar, and that's risky. Sometimes Harnoncourt punches out the orchestral line, adds sudden sharp accents, creates angles where most listeners are used to curves. Kremer doesn't participate in this re-think completely, but he tries to be original in the solo part, adding nuance and shading without tipping over into the mannerisms of Anne-Sophie Mutter.



Yet this isn't ugly Mozart, just somewhat more sharply defined Mozart. DG has a more conventionla set with Perlman and James Levine, but they don't include the great Sinfonia concertante, which is a mark in favor of Kremer's set. I don't want to exaggerate the deviations in these performances--nobody is tyring to burn Mozart to the ground. There's a sense of refreshing newness that added to my listening enjoyment from two great musicians I admire more and more as time goes on."