January 24, 2011

Mozart. Recently, the chief music critic of the New York Times Anthony Tommasini wrote a series of highly entertaining but ultimately meaningless articles, reasoning his way into a list of 10 greatest classical composers. He ended up placing Mozart in third place. We'll leave it to Tommasini and his readers to argue the merits of a particular pecking order (it's enough to note that neither Haydn nor Mahler made the list). What is absolutely obvious to any music lover is that Mozart is one of the greatest geniuses in the history of music. On January 27 of this year, the world will celebrate the 255th anniversary of his birth. Our library is not as rich in Mozart's work as we would like: he was more interested in operas and symphonies than instrumental music. Still, we hope that our playlist will delight your ear.

We start with Giorgi Latsabidze playing Piano Sonata No. 9 in D Major, K. 311. The violinist Tessa Lark, and pianist Ron Regev will continue with Sonata No. 19 for Violin and Piano in E-flat Major, K 302. The young mezzo Rebecca Henry sings Countess' aria Non so più cosa son from Le Nozze di Figaro. And then we'll hear a non-commercial recording made in 1958 by Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli and Orchestra sinfonica di Napoli under the direction of Franco Caracciolo. They play the finale, Allegro, from the Piano Concerto no. 13 in C Major, K. 415.

If given the chance, we would have liked to finish this playlist with the trio Soave sia il vento, from Così fan tutte, probably the most sublime music ever written. Well, maybe the next year. In the mean time, click here to listen.

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