Search - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Lili Kraus :: Mozart: The Piano Sonatas

Lili Kraus Plays the Mozart Piano Sonatas

Robin Friedman | Washington, D.C. United States | 07/28/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Arthur Rubenstein once observed that he did not play the Mozart piano sonatas because "they are too easy for children and too difficult for adults." Fortunately many other outstanding pianists have recorded these deceptively simple works. Among the best of these recordings are those of the Hungarian pianist Lili Kraus (1903 -- 1986). Kraus's recordings of the Mozart piano sonatas date from the late 1960s, when they were released on budget LPs. They have been reissued on 4 CDs by Sony at a budget price. The compilation includes the 17 Mozart piano sonatas together with the D and C minor Fanastasias and the Rondo in D major, K. 485.



Lili Kraus was born in Hungary in impoverished circumstances. She concertized widely before WW II, but while touring in Asia was arrested and interned in a Japanese concentration camp for three years. She suffered damage to her hands during her internment but resumed performing upon her release. Lili Kraus became a British subject but lived and taught in the United States for many years until her death. She is best-known for her performances of Mozart and Beethoven.



Kraus plays the Mozart piano sonatas with a light, quick touch. Her readings are flowing, graceful, and songlike, played with a great deal of legato. Kraus plays with a fluid sense of rhythm, making use of rubato and subtle changes of tempo. She excells in passage work -- the long runs, arpeggios, trills and filigree that, form an extensive part of these sonatas. Her readings are well-conceived and avoid the tendency to sentimentalize this music.



Mozart turned to the piano sonata at several different times in his life. The first six sonatas, K. 279 -- 284, are short, early compositions with a great deal of melody. The best moment of these early works is the extended set of variations which concludes the final sonata, K. 284. Following this first group of six sonatas, Mozart's work in the genre grows more expansive, varied, and interesting.



I was most interested in hearing Lily Kraus play the Mozart sonatas I have myself attempted on the piano. Thus, Kraus gives a spirited reading to the sonata in A, K 331, with its famous "Alla turca" finale, but I was even more moved by her exquisite and fluid performance of the variations with which the work begins. Kraus gives a large-scaled performance to the sonata in A minor, K. 310, the first of the two Mozart piano sonatas in a minor key. Kraus brings out the rocking, rather unstable character of the opening movement of the F major sonata K. 332, together with its dreamlike second movement and the vivacious concluding rondo. The sonata in B flat major, K. 333 is a work both reflective and spacious. Kraus captures the intimacy of the opening movement, and the concerto-like character of the finale, with its lengthy cadenzas. The sonata in C, K 545, the short "sonata facile" is familiar to every young piano student. Kraus's manages to perform this familiar work without making it sound hackneyed.



Some of Mozart's best writing for solo piano dates from late in his life. The great sonata in C minor K. 457 togethe with the C minor fantasy, K. 457, with which it is invariably performed receive a forceful reading. The fantasia and sonata taken together constitutes Mozart's most elaborate work for solo piano. Mozart's final piano sonata, K. 576 in D major, allegedly writen for an amateur pianist, is a short but difficult piece with complex contrapuntal passages in its outer movements. This work represent the closest Mozart came to virtuosic piano writing, and Kraus gives it a lively performance.



Lili Kraus was a wonderful pianist, a charismatic personality, and an enthusiastic teacher who deserves to be remembered. This collection of her performances of the Mozart sonatas presents Lili Kraus at her best. This recording will interest those who love Mozart or piano music, especially those listeners who have struggled with these works themselves.



Robin Friedman"

Very enjoyable Mozart

Leif A. Blomquist | Sweden | 07/12/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Lili Kraus is a link in the chain of masters to pupils starting with Mozart himself. Lili Kraus is playing with remarkable ease and makes you listen with concentration to the very convincing and enjoyable interpretations. Mozart himself would have liked this performance.

I earlier have in my posession the Mozart Piano/violin sonatas with Kraus/Boskovsky and the pianotrios with Kraus/Boskovsky/Hubner. All favorites.

LeifB"