CD-1179(2) ROBERT CASADESUS PLAYS MOZART


CD No. 1 (52:46) Piano Concerto No. 21 in C, K467; Nat’l Orch., Lovro von Matacic (23 Sept. 1960) (27:36). Piano Concerto No. 23 in A, K488; Nat’l Orch., Jean Martinon (18 June 1969) (24:56). CD No. 2 (59:03) Piano Concerto #24 in c, K491 Nat’l Orch., Pierre Monteux (24 Sept. 1958) (29:14). Piano Concerto #26 in D, K537 Nat’l Orch., David Zinman  (13 Sept. 1968) (29:36). Previously unissued public performances.Audio restoration:  Aaron Z. Snyder (2006). AAD UPC # 0-17685-11792-3
Not for sale in France.


Buzz: Mozart’s piano concertos played a prominent role throughout the career of Robert Casadesus. Over the course of thirty-two years he recorded thirteen of the twenty-seven piano concertos—far more than any other pianist born in the 19th century. Outside the realm of concertos, he recorded several solo works and a few chamber works, but it is his body of concerto recordings that has cemented his place in history as one of the great Mozart interpreters. Interpretively, Robert Casadesus and Mozart were in many ways a perfect match. Like so many French pianists, Casadesus’ early training stressed the jeu perlé technique, a way of playing where scale-like passages are rendered so evenly and with such refinement as to resemble a string of pearls. Throughout Casadesus’ Mozart performances one hears his impeccable jeu perlé even at the most rapid of tempos, but Casadesus brought much more to his interpretations of Mozart than just fluid fingerwork. In his playing one finds an ideal combination of poetry, fire, aristocracy, and elegance. – This collection includes four outstanding performances of Mozart concertos, never before issued in any format

 

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