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Mozart: Piano Sonatas 13, 14, 16 & 18 - Colom

Mozart: Piano Sonatas 13, 14, 16 & 18 - Colom

Eudora Records  EUD-SACD-2408

Stereo/Multichannel Hybrid

Classical - Instrumental


Josep Colom (piano)


A living legend from the Spanish piano scene, in this album Josep Colom presents Mozart’s music in a radical way: with Colom’s own interludes between movements that play with motifs or anticipate ideas, new ornamentation, transformations, all in all evoking the art of improvisation from the time of Mozart, this album brings four piano sonatas from the Austrian composer as never before heard. From the last of his piano sonatas, the full of counterpoint D major K. 576, to the dramatic C minor K. 457 Sonata, going though the delightful B flat major sonata K. 333 and the “easy” C major sonata K. 545, Josep Colom reaches with this album new heights, in a fascinating reading of Mozart’s masterpieces.

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Review by Adrian Quanjer - October 10, 2024

Are there more than one Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart? Luca Chiantore, an Italian pianist and musicologist, based in Catalonia, Spain, author of the liner notes, thinks so. An intriguing introduction. The cover of this new Eudora Records release tells us that Josep Colom will play 4 Sonatas (13,14,16 and 18) signed ‘Mozart’. So, where’s the catch?

It’s no secret that Mozart loved to improvise. Playing his own piano concerti, he would add all sorts of ornamentation, often also in support of the tutti, if the orchestral compliment was frugal. Colum goes two steps further. Something to be discovered when listening. Or, for the savviest among us, looking at the tracks and counting the movements! There they are: Interludes! I don’t think beginners would have had the nerve to do that. But Josep is not a beginner; he is one of the nestors of Spanish piano playing and a darn good one at that. So, here we go.

Colom’s Mozart is lean and precise; full of clarity. No manipulated boost at the bottom end to make it sound bigger. It’s only there when it is. If you believe that it is all about the Interludes, then the first movement will wake you up. Mozart lovers, used to listening with sheet music on their lap, may risk losing track. We have here the second step of clever Josep. A refreshment of the score in Mozartian style, like an extended cadenza or, to borrow a word from the pop scene, a remake that catches the ear.

Purists will be horrified. This is not for people for whom there is only one ‘truth’ - theirs - the kind of person you wouldn’t want to have on your negotiating team. It is for those I value more, the ones that are open to new ideas. Josep Colom obliges. Not for fun, but to show the other side of the medal; the deeper side of the inspiration Mozart can induce in a receptive and intelligent mind.

My advice to serious music enthusiasts on the lookout for intriguing concepts, go for it, you may like it as much as I did (and still do!). Gonzalo Noqué is your guarantor for perfect sound and generous (over 80 minutes) registration in all the popular formats, though for me DSD surround will do.

Blangy-le-Château, Normandy, France.

Copyright © 2024 Adrian Quanjer and HRAudio.net

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Sonics (Multichannel):

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