Your guide to classical music online

MOZART: KEYBOARD MUSIC, VOL. 2

Jed Distler

Artistic Quality:

Sound Quality:

It’s easy to understand why critics have favorably responded to Kristian Bezuidenhout’s Mozart playing: He’s a flawless technician and a musician of great finesse, who appears to carefully calibrate every scale, run, ornament, rolled chord, and dynamic curve. Sometimes the results sound studied, sectionalized, and a bit predictable, as in his consistent diminuendo in each appearance of the A minor Rondo’s main theme, or the underlined change of color in transitional passages throughout both sonatas’ outer movements. By contrast, Andreas Staier makes more of the C minor first movement’s angst and drama by virtue of a faster, steadier basic tempo and more propulsive bass lines, although Bezuidenhout gauges the C minor finale’s recitative-like sequences with impeccable timing. Similarly, Ronald Brautigam’s more vocally oriented inflections of phrase and involving dynamic interaction between hands lends greater interest to the Rondo.

However, Bezuidenhout’s inventive and witty embellishments on repeats are second to none, and his brisk, ebullient shaping of the D major Rondo positively delights. And Bezuidenhout’s lyrical side appreciably opens up when he employs the soft pedal on his Paul McNulty fortepiano (modeled after an Anton Walter & Sohn 1802 Viennese instrument), as you hear in the K. 540 Adagio’s D major theme. It’s clear that Bezuidenhout is a Mozartean for whom ideation and execution are one and the same, and it will be interesting to follow this complete Mozart keyboard music cycle as it progresses.


Recording Details:

Album Title: MOZART: KEYBOARD MUSIC, VOL. 2
Reference Recording: Brautigam (BIS)

W.A. MOZART - Sonata in C major K. 330; Rondo in A minor K. 511; Rondo in D major D. 485; Adagio n B minor K. 540; Sonata in C minor K. 457

    Soloists: Kristian Bezuidenhout (fortepiano)

Search Music Reviews

Search Sponsor

  • Insider Reviews only
  • Click here for Search Tips

Visit Our Merchandise Store

Visit Store
  • Ideally Cast Met Revival of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette
    Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, NY; March 19, 2024—The Met has revived Bartlett Sher’s 1967 production of Gounod’s R&J hot on the heels of its
  • An Ozawa Story, November, 1969
    Much has justifiably been written regarding Seiji Ozawa’s extraordinary abilities and achievements as a conductor, and similarly about his generosity, graciousness, and sense of humor
  • Arvo Pärt’s Passio At St. John The Divine
    Cathedral of St John the Divine, New York, NY; January 26, 2024—When one thinks of musical settings of Christ’s Passion, one normally thinks of the