Mozart: Piano Works

Album review

On new recording, two legendary Viennese pianists, Paul Badura-Skoda und Jörg Demus, devote themselves to works by Mozart for solo piano, four-handed piano and for two pianos, such as the well-known D major Sonata for Two Pianos KV 448. Besides the Larghetto and Allegro for 2 Pianos, which was only discovered in 1963, and the Variations in G Major for Four-Hand Piano KV 501, the two pianists, who play on historical Walter fortepianos (and also wrote the texts in the booklet), share Mozart's three famous fantasias for solo piano - Demus playing the two Fantasias in C minor and D minor KV 396 and 397 and Badura-Skoda the great Fantasia in C minor KV 475.

Paul Badura-Skoda has long been a symbol of the cultivation of Viennese classical music. The holder of the prestigious Bösendorfer-Ring, he is a celebrated guest at major international music festivals. Badura-Skoda performs with equal authority on both period and modern instruments. He was, truly, a pioneer in proposing the use of period pianos in performance, which has, today, become very popular in concert halls around the world. His recordings number well beyond the two hundred mark (LPs and CDs) including the complete cycles of the piano sonatas of Schubert, Mozart and Beethoven. He recorded these cycles on original instruments from his own collection.

Jörg Demus has performed in all the important music centers of the Old and the New World. His New York debut was followed by annual tours to the United States, and since 1961, he regularly tours to Asia, Australia and Japan. Jörg Demus has been for many years a regular guest performer at international festivals, he played often under the baton of Herbert von Karajan, Josef Krips, Carlo Zecchi, André Cluytens, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Seiji Ozawa and many others. © Gramola Records