Search - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Klára Würtz :: Mozart: Piano Sonatas (Box Set)

An Astounding Value: Great Performances at an Unbeatable Pri

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 01/26/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It is often hit or miss with issues from Brilliant Classics. They tend to offer box sets of CDs, often with well-known performers but also often with performers you've never heard of. I'd never heard of Klára Würtz but it turns out that was my loss. This is a fabulous pianist. And to think that this set contains all 18 of Mozart's piano sonatas on five CDs for less than thirty dollars! Würtz is a Hungarian-born and -trained pianist who studied with such pianists as András Schiff and Zoltán Kocsis. She is about forty (she's a looker, too, if that matters to you) who is currently a professor at the Utrecht Conservatory in Holland. These performances were recorded in 1998 and first issued on another label (I think it was Regis but I'm not sure about that).



Her playing is exhilarating in the extreme. She plays these works as if taking great delight in them -- as I'm sure she does -- and somehow she communicates that to the listener. There is not an unconsidered note in these five CDs. More important, she brings the works, even the earliest ones, alive with the subtlety and joy of her playing. I am frankly mystified about how she does this. Plenty of other pianists have similarly awesome technique. But technique alone will not work for Mozart. One has to convey the music contained in the notes. In reviews I have often seen sentiments like 'he/she plays as if composing the music on the spot' and have never quite understood what that meant. But I confess that I had that feeling with these performances repeatedly, a feeling that the pianist was discovering the meaning of the music as she played and taking pleasure in communicating that to the audience. However she does it, her joy in doing so is palpable.



There are many, many felicities in this playing. Everything from the military fanfares of K. 576's opening movement to the charm of K. 311 to the childlike simplicity in the 'Sonata Facile' K. 545 (which is anything but 'easy') to the sparkle of K. 533. Würtz has a fantastic left hand. Many of Mozart's movements, particularly in the earlier sonatas, have deedle-dum left-hand accompaniments. But never, not once, does she play them as if they were boring. No, they are nuanced in much the same way she characterizes the seemingly more interesting right-hand melodies. Indeed, it is with her left hand that much of the shaping of the music takes place, with well-judged accents, alterations of dynamics and even occasional rubato. There are modest elaborations at cadences at times, and there is the occasional rolled chord. All of it feels utterly natural and right.



I recently reviewed a complete traversal of the Mozart sonatas played by Paul Badura-Skoda, recorded forty years or so ago for Austrian radio. That was, sadly, a real chore for me. Würtz's artistry is leagues ahead of that of the much better-known Badura-Skoda. Other fine complete or nearly complete Mozart sonata sets are out there. And some of them are first-rate: Serkin, Uchida, Klien. But right now, at least, my favorite is this one. And the price!



We are just entering the year in which we celebrate the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth, so we are being inundated with Mozart recordings. I can already predict that this one will remain high on my list of favorites.



Unreservedly recommended.



Scott Morrison"

Sensitive interpretations

Dale Matcheck | michigan | 05/14/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The low price of these recordings is not in keeping with the talent of performer. I love these recordings- even the familiar sonatas 331 and 545 sound fresh and exciting, but not breathless. Wurtz is a very talented artist- I will be looking for more of her recordings in the future."