MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

Availability
CD & Download: Edelweiss

Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Piano Sonata in A minor K310 (1778) [20:37]
Piano Sonata in C Major K330 (1783) [23:01]
Piano Sonata in C minor K457 (1784) [22:00]
Fantasia in C minor K475 (1785) [12:18]
Daniel Levy (piano)
rec. Rosslyn Hill Chapel, London, 2009
EDELWEISS EDEM 3366 [78:35]

Experience Classicsonline

Daniel Levy’s repertory is impressively large, spanning the disciplined contrapuntal music of Bach through the highly colourful romanticism of Liszt to the heated fantasies of Scriabin’s imagination. Levy is a meticulous pianist who is totally dedicated to his art. His recordings are published under his own label, Edelweiss, allowing him artistic choice over venues and support team.

Mozart clearly enjoys a special place in his affections and this piano sonata programme has been cleverly conceived. The notes include the pianist’s short thought-provoking essay on Mozart. In it he quotes Mozart himself who tries to explain his inspiration and modus operandi: “... my method of composing? ... when I feel in fine shape ... whether I am in a carriage ... or taking a walk ... or at night if I cannot fall asleep; that is when a stream of ideas comes to me. Whence? How? I do not know. I preserve those that I like in my head and I hum them ... Little by little I find the way to obtain a coherent whole from these fragments, following the requirements of the counterpoint or of the timbres of the instruments.” Mozart goes on to comment, “My brain fires up more and more, and if I am not disturbed, my theme is amplified, defined and developed, to be raised complete and fulfilled entirely before me, totally finished, so that I can embrace it at a gaze as if it were a painting or a statue. I do not listen to the parts of the orchestra one after another, but all together. I can express it with so much joy. I feel as if I am living a beautiful dream. But why do I not forget it as dreams are forgotten? Perhaps this is the greatest gift for which to be grateful to the divine creator.”

Fascinating!

Mozart’s Sonata in A minor K310 was composed in Paris in the Spring of 1778. Levy expressively imbues the first Allegro maestoso with restless agitation but not without a sense of the regal. The following Andante cantabile sings along mournfully but sweetly and discreetly while the sunlit Presto scampers along merrily. The Sonata in C major K.330 has a relaxed Allegro moderato and the central Andante cantabile sings in calm introspective melancholy. The final Allegretto is spun and laced with joy and grace.

The Fantasia in C minor is cast in a darker hue with not a few hints of anger and fiery determination, a mood that alternates with material of charm and benevolence. One wonders if there was any external influence attached to this Fantasia. It was dedicated to Teresa von Trattner and was published together with the Sonata in C minor K457 under the opus no. XI (K475). The K457 Sonata shares the same key as the Fantasia, C minor. Both works are similar in atmosphere – passionate, vehemence vying with tenderness. Quoting Levy again, “Many thinkers have seen in these works the glimmer of the Masonic horizon present in Mozart, of a new man, more fraternal and in a fairer world. In fact two months after the composition of the Fantasia, Mozart composed the Masonic Funeral Music K477 in the same tonality of C minor which when listened to, can exhibit a retrospective illumination of the works K457 and K475.”

Inspired Mozart played with élan.

Ian Lace

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.