Latest Release
- DEC 12, 2024
- 1 Song
- Sleep Baby Sleep: Children's Bedtime Lullabies for Newborns · 2020
- Musique Pour Enfants Vol. 3 – Mozart En Mouvement · 1990
- Mozart Lullaby · 2017
- Cavendish Classical presents Cavendish Players: Essential Mozart, Vol. 1 · 1984
- The Mozart Effect, Vol. 5: Relax and Unwind - Music for Deep Rest & Rejuvenation · 2016
- The Mozart Effect, Vol. 5: Relax and Unwind - Music for Deep Rest & Rejuvenation · 2016
- A Classic Piano Night · 2024
- The Mozart Effect, Vol. 5: Relax and Unwind - Music for Deep Rest & Rejuvenation · 2016
- The Musicbox Essential Night · 2017
- The Musicbox Essential Night · 2017
Essential Albums
- Among Charles Mackerras’ many specialties, Mozart occupied a unique place. The conductor’s long experience of the operas gave his performances of the symphonies a drama and theatricality that makes them so appealing. His blending of “period” manners with modern instruments (though with period brass) gives these four works a freshness and modernity of approach, while also looking back to a scale that the composer would surely have recognized and appreciated. Beautifully recorded, this a classy collection of Mozart’s greatest symphonies.
- Mozart’s Requiem has stirred interest—and musicological controversy—ever since the composer (almost) finished it. Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s second recording of the work uses the Beyer edition of Sussmayr’s completion. More importantly, it all sounds like high-level Mozart. The slackening and tightening of tension toward the end of “Dies Irae” has the dramatic verve of the master’s best operas. Throughout, the fine orchestra and soloists are eclipsed only by the haunting, potent contributions of the Arnold Schoenberg Choir (an ensemble you can hear at full blast during “Rex tremendae”).
- This set begins in unusually dark Mozart territory, with the composer’s Piano Concerto No. 20 (much admired by Beethoven). Though the soloist still needs a lightness of touch—especially at the outset—in order to bring across the full impact of the music’s arc. Friedrich Gulda’s playing in the first movement is delicate, early on, before turning stormier during the cadenza composed by Beethoven. (Gulda’s way with that cadenza also sets up a winning contrast with the following, often-serene slow movement.) Concerto No. 21 is, likewise, a joy; conductor Claudio Abbado and the Vienna players provide ingenious support throughout.
- 2025
Artist Playlists
- A profound understanding of the human condition fused with a glimpse of the sublime.
- There’s lots to discover if you wander from the well-trodden Mozart paths.
- The great Austrian composer heads up a journey through sparkling treasures of the Classical period.
- From melancholy to tragedy—take a glimpse at the great composer’s rare dark moments.
About Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Was Mozart really the boy genius of mythology? He was stunningly talented, dazzling audiences across Europe with his playing and precocious compositions before he turned 10. But perhaps the greatest miracle is that he kept on developing, reaching new, dazzling heights and plumbing new emotional depths until his tragically premature death at 35. Born in 1756 in Salzburg, Mozart quickly began to spread his wings, but his ambitions were increasingly thwarted by his employer, the Archbishop of Salzburg. It wasn’t until 1781 that he was able to break free and set himself up as a freelance composer and pianist in the imperial capital Vienna. It was there Mozart produced most of his enduring masterpieces, notably four sublime operas, beginning with The Marriage of Figaro, symphonies, piano concertos (which Mozart played himself with great brilliance), chamber music, and a remarkable series of works for his friend, the virtuoso clarinetist Anton Stadler. At first things went well, but in time his fortunes began to decline and his health began to suffer. At his death in 1791 he was working on his magnificent Requiem. It turned out to be his own epitaph.
- BORN
- 1756
- GENRE
- Classical