Menahem Pressler - Mozart: Piano Sonatas Nos. 11, 17 & 18 (2015) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

This is the pianist Menahem Pressler’s second disc for La Dolce Volta, recorded at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris in September 2014. Here we meet a Mozart bathed in total serenity, as if freed from all earthly contingencies and tensions, gently singing of his state of grace, with a wonderfully tender touch. An interpretation deeply moving in its very simplicity, its sheer tranquil poetry, brimming with love and affection. Here is a miraculous disc by a humble servant of music at the peak of his inspiration.

Menahem Pressler, founding member and pianist of the Beaux Arts Trio, has established himself among the world’s most distinguished and honored musicians, with a career that spans almost six decades. Now, at 91 years old, he continues to captivate audiences throughout the world as performer and pedagogue, performing solo and chamber music recitals to great critical acclaim while maintaining a dedicated and robust teaching career.

"It’s a genuine mission to fulfil the task of recording the complete Mozart sonatas. A mission that constantly has me asking questions of myself, and which sometimes has me feeling quite dizzy: can I do it? Am I right to? And yet I feel a literal attraction for these sonatas. They’re an unending source of wonder to me. It’s a joy to record them, and even an inner necessity."

TRACKLIST

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)

01. Piano Sonata No. 11 in A Major, K. 331: I. Theme and Variations-Andante grazioso
02. Piano Sonata No. 11 in A Major, K. 331: II. Menuetto
03. Piano Sonata No. 11 in A Major, K. 331: III. Alla Turca-Allegretto
04. Piano Sonata No. 17 in B-Flat Major K. 570: I. Allegro
05. Piano Sonata No. 17 in B-Flat Major K. 570: II. Adagio
06. Piano Sonata No. 17 in B-Flat Major K. 570: III. Allegretto
07. Piano Sonata No. 18 in D Major, K. 576: I. Allegro
08. Piano Sonata No. 18 in D Major, K. 576: II. Adagio
09. Piano Sonata No. 18 in D Major, K. 576: III. Allegretto

PERSONNEL
Menahem Pressler, piano