Mozart - Music for Piano: Friedrich Gulda

Rating:
Summary: Keep Your Mind on Music, please!
Review: Definitely one of the greatest Mozartians since the Golden Age of the piano. I prefer him to Alfred Brendel or Perahia; Horszowski (though he is on the wake of the golden period ) and Firkusny would instead be my alternatives.

But some audience are distracted by the form it took instead of focussing on the substance, minding things like slightly poorer production (e.g. cf DG/Decca ), the pianist in casual dress and the solist speaking however briefly and to the point etc.

Some might not relish Gulda's touch or his sound. But in his later age like this one, his sound somewhat sublimed. Even when he was younger, he's never idiosyncratic as Gould or Tureck. Other than that his mastery of the keyborad is superb, his polyphonic lines are as beautiful as could be, his playing most lyrical and colourful, he is rhythmic and dynamic as always. And above all, his sense of structure is awefully strong. It's a pity that Philips issued the Great Pianists of the Century before this, otherwise Brendel might feel obliged to include these pieces and made a third album for Gulda.

As far as his Mozart is concerned, he is on par with Horszowski, each excells in a different way. Very easy listening and yet so deep. Such being the norm of his interpretation. A very good and enjoyable performance indeed.

Other than this DVD, I also recommend audience to look for his Beethoven No.5 Piano Concerto where he conducts on the piano the Munich Philharmonic, a most gratifying performance which compared favourably, that is musically or artisticaly, the performance by Zimermann/Berstein. There are a few more Mozart solo pieces on that DVD too, all equally appealing.

Rating:
Summary: Keep Your Mind on Music, please!
Review: Definitely one of the greatest Mozartians since the Golden Age of the piano. I prefer him to Alfred Brendel or Perahia; Horszowski (though he is on the wake of the golden period ) and Firkusny would instead be my alternatives.

But some audience are distracted by the form it took instead of focussing on the substance, minding things like slightly poorer production (e.g. cf DG/Decca ), the pianist in casual dress and the solist speaking however briefly and to the point etc.

Some might not relish Gulda's touch or his sound. But in his later age like this one, his sound somewhat sublimed. Even when he was younger, he's never idiosyncratic as Gould or Tureck. Other than that his mastery of the keyborad is superb, his polyphonic lines are as beautiful as could be, his playing most lyrical and colourful, he is rhythmic and dynamic as always. And above all, his sense of structure is awefully strong. It's a pity that Philips issued the Great Pianists of the Century before this, otherwise Brendel might feel obliged to include these pieces and made a third album for Gulda.

As far as his Mozart is concerned, he is on par with Horszowski, each excells in a different way. Very easy listening and yet so deep. Such being the norm of his interpretation. A very good and enjoyable performance indeed.

Other than this DVD, I also recommend audience to look for his Beethoven No.5 Piano Concerto where he conducts on the piano the Munich Philharmonic, a most gratifying performance which compared favourably, that is musically or artisticaly, the performance by Zimermann/Berstein. There are a few more Mozart solo pieces on that DVD too, all equally appealing.

Rating:
Summary: great pianist roughly treated by the cameras
Review: gulda, who died recently,is shown playing some mozart solos on this 58 minute dvd program from 1990. he gives great pleasure but the visuals are too variable and often distracting - too many visible mikes, speakers, pianos plus unnecessary announcements from the artist. this looks like carelessness to me. if you want to see this pianist in performance a better bet is his dvd of the k.466 and k.537 concerti.