snare drum Archive

MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 27 in B-flat Major K 595; Piano Concerto No. 12 in A, K. 414; BARTOK: Piano Con. No. 1 – Rudolf Serkin, p./ Philadelphia Orch./ Eugene Ormandy/ Marlboro Fest./ Alexander Schneider (K. 414)/ Columbia Sym. Orch./ George Szell (Bartok) – Praga Digitals

by Audiophile Audition | Nov 27, 2016 | Classical Reissue Reviews

Praga renews the sound of Rudolf Serkin’s 1962 recordings of Mozart and Bartok. MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 27 in B-flat Major, K 595; Piano Concerto No. 12 in A Major, K. 414; BARTOK: Piano Concerto No. 1, Sz. 83 – Rudolf Serkin, piano/ Philadelphia Orch./ Eugene Ormandy (K. 495)/ Marlboro Festival/ Alexander Schneider (K. 414)/ Columbia Sym. Orch./ George Szell (Bartok) – Praga Digitals PRD 250 350, 79:50 (12/9/16) [Distr. by Harmonia mundi/PIAS] ****: Pianist Rudolf Serkin (1903-1991) for many years stood as one of the more prolific Mozart interpreters on record, imparting to Mozart a clear, robust line not so troubled by his percussive wont in Beethoven. His version of the 1790 Piano Concerto No. 27 in B-flat Major with Eugene Ormandy (28 January 1962) enjoys a muscular sonority that bespeaks the virility in late Mozart. The Philadelphia Orchestra personnel, especially the woodwinds, prided themselves on the liquid articulation of the parts as they integrate with the fabulous Philadelphia string sound. In the opening Allegro’s minor-key secondary subject, Serkin brings out its expressive power without cloying or breaking the elastic fluidity of his line. Without trumpet and tympani, the texture in Mozart’s last piano concerto carries a paradoxical sense […]