ROBERT SILVERMAN PLAYS MOZART (STEREOPHILE)
Everything moves along more or less wonderfully. For instance, there’s a dramatic but not overcooked K311, a work that can easily be overdone. Then there’s K330, which I must say is truly top-notch, easily up to the level of any other version I’ve heard. K331 has some niftily delivered variations and a lovely Menuetto and an alla Turca movement that charms. There’s also a nicely stormy C minor sonata, prefaced by the C minor Fantasia, where one almost wishes the IsoMike array had been moved back from the piano a few more feet!
Even in the most intense music, Silverman keeps things classical, if you will; he doesn’t try to make the music sound like it’s from the 19th Century, as a few pianists have done, nor does he play it in precious or even fussy fashion, and he certainly doesn’t play it in the Dresden Doll fashion of Walter Gieseking. His tempi tend to be on the leisurely side, but things never drag. In fact, or rather, they move along most swimmingly.
That’s not all! The late sonatas are all superb, every last one. And such tasteful, beautiful embellishments in the slow movement of K570. The early sonatas can, at times, be troublesome, by which I mean boring and too long, but not here. Silverman obviously enjoys playing at least some of this music – and I wouldn’t doubt he likes playing it all – as his discreet vocalizing demonstrates (it happens throughout the set), and he delivers some wonderful playing. It’s hard for me to think of a more beautiful rendition of the adagio from K280 than this one, for instance. And few takes on the aforementioned K284 are more entertaining.
The sound is superb. The attack and decay of the notes, the tone, the dynamics: everything about the piano sounds just right, and exceedingly natural, by which I mean it sounds like a piano sitting in a nice sounding hall without a hint of obtrusive knob twiddling.All told, this fine set is well worth many listens. I’m still not at all happy about the price, but I’m happy to own the set. Good stuff, indeed.