Phenomenal set by a relatively overlooked artist
S. M. Struhl | Wilmette, IL United States | 10/29/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This set says something special about the sonatas. Listen to this and you will understand how each figure and each ornament has its place in a series of really remarkable musical creations. These performances remind you that foremost Mozart had the most amazing sense of shaping music as (for lack of a better phrase) beautiful sound--and yet these performances are not just pretty or about tonal values. They find something right at the center of the music. The artist had both great success and years of terrible suffering (as a POW in a Japanese war camp), and this must, in some way, inform these remarkable interpretations. The only regret is the lack of repeats. Brautigam's set, for instance, repeats everything, or nearly so, and the music can stand it easily. I suppose it's not a real complaint to say that each piece leaves you wanting to hear more."
One of the greatest Mozart's voices!
Hiram Gomez Pardo | Valencia, Venezuela | 05/14/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Lili Kraus came to this world to become (together with Clara Haskil) the voice of Mozart. Her tonal freshness and radiant vitality impregnate her performances of amazing expressiveness and sheer lyricism so pitifully absent in those days. She had vibrant expression and strong personality, where the articulation and the significance of every bar makes her playing keeps a narrow resemblance with one of his master teachers Artur Schnabel.
This set must be part of your invaluable collection because she is part of the elitesque list of the twelve most remarkable Mozartian pianists ever born, the other eleven would be -to my mind- Clara Haskil, Clifford Curzon, Geza Anda, Robert Casadesus, Edwin Fischer, Wilhelm Kempff, Andras Schiff, Joao Maria Pires, Murray Perahia, Walter Gieseking and Radu Lupu.
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Track Listings (16) - Disc #1
