Like Sir Edmund Hillary who when asked why Everest responded: “… because it’s there…” the formidable Israeli American pianist Orli Shaham would probably answer in similar fashion if asked why attempt to record all of Mozart’s sonatas for piano in three compact discs.

Included in the recording and encompassed in this release are two compact discs that include sonatas numbers four, five, nine, eleven, twelve – all five early to mid-career works, while numbers sixteen and eighteen, also featured here are mid-to-late career works. There are three more discs to come; each of which will be released in Fall and Spring 2022-23; 18 sonatas in all.

Ms. Shaham neither presents in numerical order nor in order of composition, but rather in a sequence that suits her unimpeachable artistic instincts. Thus, the recording takes us through defiantly quick Allegros and on to long-lined cantabile movements, always with an emphasis on agility and clarity, and with unflagging attention paid to color and phrasing. Interestingly Ms. Shaham dedicated countless hours of study to preparing the seven works included in these two volumes, and exploring cadenzas and ornamentation suited to the Mozartian style. The results are splendid, and they provide many hours of pleasurable listening.

Orli Shaham recorded Volumes 2 and 3 of the Complete Piano Sonatas by Mozart in August of 2019 and September of 2020 in a two-disc set to be released on August 26, 2022 on the Canary Classics label.

Volumes two and three include the Piano Sonata in A Minor, K.3104; Piano Sonata in F Major, K.3327; Piano Sonata in D Major, K.576; Piano Sonata in C Major, “für Anfänger”, K.5454; Piano Sonata in E-flat Major, K.2827; Piano Sonata in G Major, K.28310; and Piano Sonata in A Major, “Alla turca”, K.331

Erica Brenner is the Recording Producer and Editor.  Michael Bishop and Robert Friedrich  are the recording engineers. The two CD’s were mixed and mastered by Robert Friedrich. Orli Shaham is a Steinway Artist. 

Information – classicalcommunications@gmail.com

Rafael de Acha (c) 2022