Mozart Edition: Complete Works (170 CD Box Set)
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Free Music Notes for Mozart Edition: Complete Works (170 CD Box Set)
Free Music Review: Sure to please!
Hit: 5 Stars
Very present and lively. I have been playing these CD's one after another and they are all enjoyable. What an incredible bargain. Free Music Review: best way to complete Mozart
Hit: 4 Stars
Clarity, balance, and transparency are hallmarks of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's music. He is a one of the most prolific and influential composers of the classical era. He was a versatile composer and wrote in almost every major genre, including symphony, opera, the solo concerto, chamber music including string quartet and string quintet, and the piano sonata. While none of these genres were new, the piano concerto was almost single-handedly developed and popularized by Mozart. He also wrote a great deal of religious music, including masses; and he composed many dances, divertimenti, serenades, and other forms of light entertainment. Mozart has over 600 compositions includes works widely acknowledged as the greater of symphonic, concert ante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music. Mozart is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers, and many of his works are part of the standard concert repertoire around the world. Due to the reasons stated above, any person who loves good music would simply want to have all his compositions at hand. Brilliant classics has fulfilled this need by coming out with a complete box set of all his compositions.
But first and foremost I agree that if a person has the energy and resources to get the best version of a composition that is the best way to go. For example, I would always recommend and listen to Mitsuko Uchida for Mozart's Piano Concertos or Anne Sophie Mutter for the Violin Concertos. There are a lot of credible reviewers who can be of assistance if you want to go thru this path. But to acquire a complete Mozart collection this way will never be easy. This we have to admit is not only going to be expensive but a long and tiring one. So having this Complete Mozart Collection by Brilliant Classics is the way to go. This box contains 170 CD collections of all Mozart's 600 plus compositions for us to enjoy and study at a reasonable price. This is also a lot cheaper that The Philips Complete Mozart set.
As of this time I have listened to haft of the collection and I am very much satisfied with it. Although I must be honest, that some compositions are not at its best form or version. But I congratulate Brilliant classics for their great effort to be able to gather all the works and sell this at a reasonable price. Since this collection will give me a chance to be able to listen to all of Mozart's composition I will be able to determine my favorites and purchase "better" or "alternative" renditions in the future.
Charles Rosen wrote "It is only through recognizing the violence and sensuality at the center of Mozart's work that we can make a start towards a comprehension of his structures and an insight into his magnificence..."
So what are you waiting for? Purchase this right away and get into the music of one of the greatest composers of all time.
Free Music Review: Great value set from the worlds most overrated composer
Hit: 4 Stars
Mozart- he's largely accessible enough, hard to actively dislike and of course hugely iconic, but after digesting his works for many years I do not believe that he is the greatest composer of all time. I'd even hardly rate him as one of the top ten composers. He's just the most popular. I *like* Mozart, I just find it hard to be passionate about him. The only area in my opinion in which Mozart outsrips most others is in string quartets, a tricky musical medium that has sometimes been a challenge to even the best composers. Subjective personal preference of course but one I thought worth mentioning.
Anyway, this set. Well it's obviously "budget", but not quite as tacky as some other boxed sets available, lessening the embarrasment factor. 170 CDs of pleasant, melodic and sometimes brilliant music, albeit largely predictable. If you like the late 1700s classical style though then this set is obviously recommended.
Buy this boxed set because you like the music, not because you think you've gotten the best music of all time in one fell swoop. Putting this in obvious view next to your stereo system isn't going to fool anyone you know :p
Free Music Review: The best Cos? fan tutte on disc
Hit: 5 Stars
In is hard to justify spending $120 for one opera, but if you do buy this Mozart box set you will be rewarded by a delightful Cos? fan tutte. This live recording succeeds primarily because of the deft baton of Sigiswald Kuijken. He sets what invariably seems to be the perfect tempo and then lets the singers run with it. He allows a gentle rallentando when sections of music change, but otherwise keeps out of the way. The orchestra, La Petite Bande, plays with a satifying zest: the sound is not as lush as a modern orchestra but not as anemic as some other period ensembles.
The singers sound young and impetuous enough to support the implausible plot. First the men: Markus Sch?fer is an ardent, emotionally vulnerable Ferrando. Per Vollestad plays Guglielmo with just the right swagger for a bachelor captain. (Contrast to Tom Krause in this role, who sounds more like a widowed colonel.) Huub Claessens brings the correct blend to Don Alfonso -- a character actor's comic patter plus a lyrical ability to actually sing the music. There are too many near-retirement baritones who bluster and wobble as decrepit meddlers.
The women are equally well matched to their roles. Soile Isokoski tosses off Fiordiligi's "Come scoglio" without making it sound like an Olympic routine on the parallel bars. Monica Groop partners well as the more whimsical sister Dorabella. Nancy Argenta makes a meal (including dessert and gratuity) of the role of the maid Despina. Her slyness brings a smile at every turn; and while her trouser impersonations of the doctor and notary are not credible, why should they be? She's a maid. I'll take her chesty blustering over the standard drill of ear-piercing nasality. (Worst of all is the Archiv recording in which the notary drops down an octave into baritone register -- more creepy than comic.)
One guiding precept of this recording is that the vocal line should be ornamented at any prudent opportunity. This can be a risky endeavor if the proper sensibility is lacking; the results can be bizarre and flinch-inducing. Luckily here the melismas are an indulgent treat. In Despina's aria "In uomini, in soldati" Nancy Argenta executes a cadenza with mind-bending twists and turns. It is delicious.
The other Da Ponte operas are performed by the same conductor and orchestra. Don Giovanni is quite good, although the cast is not as strong as for Cos?, and the tempos seem out of proportion in the Act One finale. I like Le nozze di Figaro despite its flaws -- blatant nepotism is perpetrated by Marie Kuijken (the conductor's wife? sister? nephew?), whose Barbarina bleats like a nearly-broken treble. As with Cos? fan tutte, these operas are redeemed by the conductor's light touch.
I have found a few unfamiliar (to me) treasures in the box set: The Divertimenti of Volume 3 make pleasant background music while I am working. They are harmonious without calling constant attention to themselves, yet there are occasional surprises that make me look up and smile. The Church Sonatas on the last disc of Volume 4 were an enlightening discovery. These are are not sacred works; they are chamber pieces that feature an organ, which is found ... in a church. Each one is a refreshing delight. La Betulia liberata in Volume 7 *is* a sacred work, a quasi-oratorio that plays like an undiscovered opera. The cast is quite good, with Peter Maag conducting the ensemble.
Free Music Review: a good set of Mozart, except
Hit: 4 Stars
I generally agree that this is a good set of the music of Mozart except for the sacred choral. To my ear one of the female voices is schrill and ruins the performances particularly of the masses. I bought the Harnoncourt set and have been pleased with it.Mozart - Complete Sacred Works / Harnoncourt