Sonata For 2 Pianos in D Major, K. 448

The Labeque sisters are not alone! For Guher and Suher Pekinel are twins and piano duettists by which I also mean that they play works for two pianos. Looking at their names, I wondered about their nationality, and the booklet tells us that they are in fact ''of mixed Turkish/Spanish parentage'' and that from the age of about ten their training was at the Paris Conservatoire, the Frankfurt Musikhochschule, under Rudolf Serkin at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia and finally at the Juilliard School, New York.

“Unquestionably one of the greatest pianists of all time” is how Gramophone magazine has described Martha Argerich. Her relationship with Warner Classics goes back to 1965 and her victory at the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw. Over several decades it has produced a rich catalogue of live and studio recordings, embracing a repertoire that spans three centuries, a diversity of genres, and collaborations with such figures as Renaud Capuçon, Charles Dutoit, Nelson Freire, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Gidon Kremer, Mischa Maisky and Itzhak Perlman.

“Unquestionably one of the greatest pianists of all time” is how Gramophone magazine has described Martha Argerich. Her relationship with Warner Classics goes back to 1965 and her victory at the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw. Over several decades it has produced a rich catalogue of live and studio recordings, embracing a repertoire that spans three centuries, a diversity of genres, and collaborations with such figures as Renaud Capuçon, Charles Dutoit, Nelson Freire, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Gidon Kremer, Mischa Maisky and Itzhak Perlman.

This is all-around a great recording. I want to principally address the C major concerto (#13 K. 415), as it is light years beyond the early 6th, and warrants a bit more consideration. Before purchasing this record, I had previously only heard the C major once, and I can't even remember the soloist or orchestra (maybe Barenboim); consequently, I was a bit hesitant to go ahead and buy it. However, it has surely become one of my favorite Mozart piano concertos. This is in no small part due to the extraordinary first movement, which, barring the last of the 19th and the 1st of the 20th, would certainly be my favorite in any of the Mozart piano concerti.