Uchida

The virtues of Uchida's playing are the ones classically associated with Mozart: grace, fluidity, restraint, and a certain playful quality. Those are all on display in these performances of Mozart concertos from the 1770s, early in the composer's career. Uchida's style is more concerned with small details than with large spaces, and this puts her somewhat out of the mainstream in a work like the Piano Concertos

There is no doubt that Mitsuko Uchida is one of the leading Mozart pianists. And that fact alone gives this release credibility. But if we look deeper we find that this release is a magnificent example of her ability. Full marks must go to Phillips for bringing this major project together. The recording concept and organisation by Erik Smith and Rupert Faustle at the Henry Wood Hall London give us magnificent piano sound. The recordings were made during the 1980s. The set is recorded digitally and the sound is excellent in tone and balance.

The three sonatas on this disc were all written in 1777-78, and mark Mozart's attainment of a new level of skill and sophistication in his writing for the piano. Uchida's accounts, recorded in 1985, midway through her survey of the composer's complete piano sonatas for Philips, are sympathetic and nicely shaped. Some pianists have found more vehemence and darkness in the A minor sonata, K. 310, and more elegance in the two major-key works, but the balanced, essentially lyrical approach Uchida brings to the music works very well. This is soulful playing, of an intimacy not often encountered these days, and the recording does it full justice.

There is no doubt that Mitsuko Uchida is one of the leading Mozart pianists. And that fact alone gives this release credibility. But if we look deeper we find that this release is a magnificent example of her ability.

There is no doubt that Mitsuko Uchida is one of the leading Mozart pianists. And that fact alone gives this release credibility. But if we look deeper we find that this release is a magnificent example of her ability.

Mitsuko Uchida has been a committed exponent of Schoenberg's Piano Concerto for over a decade now. It is a work which remains controversial in its adaptation of the serial method to an almost Brahmsian harmonic palette, wedded to a formal approach that takes up the integrated design, and textural richness, of Schoenberg's pre-atonal works. Certainly in terms of the balance between soloist and orchestra, this recording clarifies the often capricious interplay to a degree previously unheard on disc (and most likely in the concert hall too).Interpretatively, it combines Pollini's dynamism, without …..(International Record Review)