Fischer plays Mozart

Not Edwin, Annie... I just bought her delightful Hungaroton disc of K. 466 and K. 467 (the piano concerti Nos. 20 and 21) and Rondo (K. 382) with the Budapest Symphony/Ervin Lukas. Mozart with plenty of character but not distorted or fussy.

Is her EMI Mozart as good?

I don't have that one, but I do have her Hungaroton recording of the K.394 Fantasy and Fugue (coupled with the Beethoven 3rd and Schubert D.935/1 Impromptu). Her EMI Mozart concertos are now (or were) on Seraphim, the K.467 & 482 conducted by Sawallisch and K.466 & 488 with Boult. I don't know how good they are compared to your Hungaroton recordings but they're definitely worth hearing. I got both these on eBay so I don't know if they're still in print.

says...

Overall yes, though in those particular concertos her performances on EMI are a bit softer-edged (I prefer the Hungaroton). Her 24/27 on EMI is especially good (the above average conducting doesn't hurt); there aren't many 24s, if any, I like more than hers (and I don't think that's just because it's the recording I grew up with).

Yes; if only EMI had used Kurtz on all of these instead of the supremely mediocre Boult.

Paul Goldstein

<< Subject: Re: Fischer plays Mozart

Date: Mon, Mar 3, 2003 1:16 PM

Yes; if only EMI had used Kurtz on all of these instead of the supremely mediocre Boult. >>

This Lukas guy on the Hungaroton disc does a good job too

says...

That Kurtz guy is pretty 'big' too; it's good to hear 491 with orchestral participation that doesn't sound reined-in the way it all-too-often is.

<< >

That Kurtz guy is pretty 'big' too; it's good to hear 491 with orchestral participation that doesn't sound reined-in the way it all-too-often is. >>

Well, Mozart is pretty darn 'big' after all these years.

I hope this doesn't wind up being a double-post. I tried to post last night, so it's far past the usual 9-hour max delay and I presume that the message simply got lost in cyberspace.

Anyway...

Over the past few years, Annie Fischer has become one of those 'buy everything she ever did' kind of artists for me. Like Michelangeli, she was more than a bit shy of (commercial) microphones during a large part of her career. All the more reason to grab what's available, in my opinion. She is occasionally uneven, as in the big name LvB sonatas (14, 21, 23 et al.) on her Hungaraton cycle, but the less well known sonatas are superb, even revelatory at times. I have her EMI Mozart PC#20 and #23 and a couple of recitals on LP, and a couple of compilations as well as the entire LvB sonata cycle on CD. But to my ears, her finest performances in my collection are her LvB PC#3 coupled with Mozart Rondos for piano & orchestra, all on an old DGG LP with Fricsay and the Bavarian Radio Orch. The LvB is equal to or better than any other I can think of in the hi-fi era and the Mozart, in particular, is even more beautiful than the Beethoven. I warmly recommend this, presuming it has been successfully transferred to CD.

Cheers,

<< I hope this doesn't wind up being a double-post. I tried to post last night, so it's far past the usual 9-hour max delay and I presume that the message simply got lost in cyberspace.

Anyway...

Over the past few years, Annie Fischer has become one of those 'buy everything she ever did' kind of artists for me. Like Michelangeli, she was more than a bit shy of (commercial) microphones during a large part of her career. All the more reason to grab what's available, in my opinion. She is occasionally uneven, as in the big name LvB sonatas (14, 21, 23 et al.) on her Hungaraton cycle, but the less well known sonatas are superb, even revelatory at times. I have her EMI Mozart PC#20 and #23 and a couple of recitals on LP, and a couple of compilations as well as the entire LvB sonata cycle on CD. But to my ears, her finest performances in my collection are her LvB PC#3 coupled with Mozart Rondos for piano & orchestra, all on an old DGG LP with Fricsay and the Bavarian Radio Orch. The LvB is equal to or better than any other I can think of in the hi-fi era and the Mozart, in particular, is even more beautiful than the Beethoven. I warmly recommend this, presuming it has been successfully transferred to CD.

Cheers,

Dirk

>>

Fortunately, one of the Mozart Rondos is on the Hungaroton CD. The Fischer/Fricsay/Beethoven 3 is in DG's recent Beethoven edition, not coupled with the Mozart.

says...

But to my

That fantastic performance can be found in the DG historical Beethoven recordings box. I don't know of any other CD transfer, though I wouldn't be surprised if there were one in Japan.

Marvellous recordings. I bought that LP the morning after hearing a quite dreadful performance of the LvB 3rd concerto at a concert and Fischer's was the only recording in the store. I still have it nearly forty years on and still play it, more frequently than any of the other recordings I have acquired since. And, as you say, the two Mozart rondos are at least as good.