Michael Endres - Mozart: My Favourite Piano Sonatas '2016

Tracks list

Tracklist

01. Piano Sonata No. 2 in F Major, K. 280: I. Allegro assai
02. Piano Sonata No. 2 in F Major, K. 280: II. Adagio
03. Piano Sonata No. 2 in F Major, K. 280: III. Presto
04. Piano Sonata No. 12 in F Major, Op. 6 No. 3, K. 332: I. Allegro
05. Piano Sonata No. 12 in F Major, Op. 6 No. 3, K. 332: II. Adagio
06. Piano Sonata No. 12 in F Major, Op. 6 No. 3, K. 332: III. Allegro assai
07. Piano Sonata No. 14 in C Minor, K. 457: I. Allegro
08. Piano Sonata No. 14 in C Minor, K. 457: II. Adagio
09. Piano Sonata No. 14 in C Minor, K. 457: III. Molto allegro
10. Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major, K. 545 Sonata facile: I. Allegro
11. Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major, K. 545 Sonata facile: II. Andante
12. Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major, K. 545 Sonata facile: III. Rondo
13. Piano Sonata No. 18 in D Major, K. 576: I. Allegro
14. Piano Sonata No. 18 in D Major, K. 576: II. Adagio
15. Piano Sonata No. 18 in D Major, K. 576: III. Allegretto



This disc of Mozart keyboard sonatas performed by German-born pianist Michael
Endres is extracted from a complete set the pianist issued; the works are billed
as his favourite piano sonatas, but in his interior notes he admits that they
were simply chosen to demonstrate the whole range of these highly individual
works. In this they succeed. The program shows five different aspects of Mozarts
keyboard output: the early Sonata in F major, K. 280, with its exploitation of
the new textures afforded by the fortepiano; the quasi-orchestral Sonata in F
major, K. 332, which contains an unmistakable reference to the Mannheim rocket
figure associated with Mannheims famous court orchestra; the Beethovenian Sonata
in C minor, K. 457; the easy Sonata in C major, K. 545; and the late Sonata in D
major, K. 576, with its effortless integration of counterpoint into transparent
Classical textures. Endres is a precise and technically highly gifted artist. In
sections where Mozart explores and exploits a specific textural contrast - the
first movement of K. 280, for instance, or the first movement of K. 576, where
the hunting-horn call at the beginning keeps getting encroached upon by
contrapuntal complexities - he is superb. Endres offers perhaps the very best
performance on recordings of the Sonata facile, K. 545. Played singly, the
thematic materials of this piece reveal absolutely no reason they should be so
bewitching; its all a matter of perfect balance between its elements, and in
Endres hands the scales are perfectly calibrated. In slow movements he is not so
superb; he isnt a very lyrical player, and the big Adagio of the C minor sonata
drags a bit, its highly expressive A flat major strain lacking the desired
impact. And his sforzandos may be too strong, and his pedaling too lush, for
listeners who like a sparer Mozart. Still, especially considering the trademark
audiophile sound of the Oehms label, the buyer seeking a single disc of Mozart
sonatas played on a modern piano would do well to try this one out.

Related artists