Heidi Lowy plays Mozart’s sonatas as if her concert grand were a period instrument, with a dynamic range from piano to mezzo-forte and a delicate yet ringing sonority. However, more often than not the pianist oversteps the thin line between agogic freedom and mincing mannerism. She fusses with the opening allegros of the C major (K. 279) and C minor (K. 457), stretching a beat here and swooning over a phrase there. In the thematic statements of K. 284 and K. 331’s variation movements, Lowy mauls the basic pulse to the point where she must strain to follow the music’s melodic curve. Sometimes she slows down in order to accommodate turns and ornaments, thwarting rhythmic momentum in the process. At the same time, Lowy sets a deliberate yet straightforward pace throughout the showy D major Sonata K. 576, and evokes the operatic aura of the B-flat (K. 333) and F major (K. 332) Sonatas’ slow movements without stopping to sniff the roadside posies, so to speak.
There’s no question of Lowy’s sincerity and total involvement with these wonderful works. But if you like your Mozart to speak softly, you’ll find more backbone in Ingrid Haebler’s similarly intimate, small-scaled readings. My own preference lies with the firmer, more dramatic, and pianistically resourceful cycles from Lili Kraus (mono and stereo), Andras Schiff, Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Klara Wurz, Ronald Brautigam, and Daniel Barenboim. And Claudio Arrau’s regally inflected, emotionally penetrating, and largely misunderstood cycle deserves reissue.
