Mozart Klaviersonate Kv331

Part of Warner's Mozart 250th Anniversary Edition, this set of 12 discs contains all the complete piano sonatas and violin sonatas, most of the works for piano duet, and several solo piano works. The recordings all date from the late '80s to early '90s and have very good sound. The solo piano works are all performed by Swiss pianist Karl Engel, while the duets are by sisters Güher and Süher Pekinel.

Behind every Mozart solo piano composition is the human voice, and many interpreters understandably build their interpretations from the melody line down. By contrast, fortepianist Andreas Staier generates rhythmic and dramatic momentum by letting his left hand lead, so to speak. His firm, sharply delineated bass lines in the C minor sonata's outer movements and the E-flat sonata's Allegro finale evoke a symphonic rather than operatic aura that proves far more stimulating than Paul Badura-Skoda's equally rigorous yet less vibrant fortepiano traversals.