Cheap Murray Perahia's Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 21 & 27 (Video) (W.A. Mozart, Murray Perahia) Price

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Customer Reviews of Murray Perahia's Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 21 & 27

This video consists of two parts: (1) the Rehearsal and (2) the Performance.

Actually the content of the performance section of this video is identical with the one of an audio CD (Sony Classics - #46485). And in terms of the sound quality the CD surpasses this VHS video version. There is no doubt about it. So the value of this video depends on the content and the quality of the rehearsal section. And it *is* excellent. I will explain some of the features that make this video a must-buy for the one who loves Mozartfs music.

The rehearsal part is a nice blend of the talk-beside-the-piano (Sir Forman interviewing with Murray Perahia) and the rehearsal scene (in Kammermusiksaal in Berliner Philharmonie). Sometimes the camera switches from the talk to the related rehearsal scene in such an effective and smooth way that you can easily understand and appreciate Perahia's interpretation.

In the interview with Murray Perahia, Sir Denis Forman asked him some important and interesting questions. Some of them are:

* How to play the floating lines in the 2nd movement of K. 467?

* Leopold said in his letter that K. 467 had some dissonant cord proceedings he was not satisfied with, but where?

* How much tempo rubato should there be in a Mozart's Piano Concerto?

* How should the ornamentation and improvisation be in a Mozart's Piano Concerto?

With just a single glance over those questions, any Mozartian must feel the urge to purchase this video. And Murray answered those questions not only with his verbal explanation but also with his piano by picking up some examples from Mozartfs scores: e.g. in order to show how the ornamentation works in Mozartfs slow movement, Murray showed his example in the 2nd mov. of K. 595, and then Mozart's example in the 2nd mov. of K. 450. With this glecture-beside-the-pianoh style, his explanation is very convincing as well as enjoyable to listen to.

Perhaps you will witness the highlight of the rehearsal section when Murray explains how the key changes in the development section in the first movement of K. 595. There, even the layman such as I can have a fairly clear understanding of what Jean-Victor Hocquard wrote, gin Mozart, changing keys itself makes a song!h

The original digital recording of the audio part of this video was processed in a 20-bit format. As far as I know it belongs to one of the earliest generations of 20-bit format recordings. Thanks to the choice of this recording format combined with the rich acoustic effects of the Siemens Villa[*], the sound quality in the CD version is quite superb: you can enjoy both the rich harmony and the subtle nuances in the texture. And above all, Murray Perahia's brilliant and smooth touch was well preserved in this recording, which was not accomplished in the previous recordings he made with English Chamber Orchestra in the 1980s.

[*] The sound quality of the rehearsal section recorded in
Kammermusiksaal is rather poor.

It's a shame we can not enjoy this beautiful video in a DVD.
I strongly believe that Sony should release a DVD version of this recording.

If you buy the CD version, you can at least enjoy the high-quality sound of the digital recording of this magnificent performance. Nevertheless, I do recommend to purchase this video version as well because it contains the wonderful and precious rehearsal section as I explained above.

An Ideal Gateway to the Mozart World
This video consists of two parts: (1) the Rehearsal and (2) the Performance.

Actually the content of the performance section is identical with the one of an audio CD (Sony Classics - #46485). And in terms of the sound quality the CD surpasses this VHS video version. There is no doubt about it. If you just want to *listen to* Perahia & ECO's superb performance, buy the CD.

So the value of this video depends on the content of the rehearsal section. And it *is* excellent. I will explain some of the features that make this video a must-buy for the one who loves Mozart's music.

The rehearsal part is actually a nice blend of the talk-beside-the-piano (Sir Forman interviewing with Murray Perahia) and the rehearsal scene (in Kammermusiksaal in Berliner philharmonie). Sometimes the camera switches from the talk to the related rehearsal scene in such an effective and smooth way that you can easily understand and appreciate Perahia's interpretation.

In the interview with Murray Perahia, Sir Denis Forman asked him some important and interesting questions. Some of them are:

* How to play the floating lines in the 2nd movement of K. 467?

* Leopold said in his letter that K. 467 had some dissonant cord proceedings he was not satisfied with, but where?

* How much tempo rubato should there be in a Mozart's Piano Concerto?

* How should the ornamentation and improvisation be in a Mozart's Piano Concerto?
(--> Perahia showed his example in the 2nd mov. of K. 595, and then Mozart's example in the 2nd mov. of K. 450.)

Perhaps you will witness the highlight of the rehearsal section when Murray explains how the key changes in the development section in the first movement of K. 595. There, even the layman such as I can have a fairly clear understanding of what Jean-Victor Hocquard wrote "in Mozart, changing keys itself makes a song!"

The original recording was processed in a 20-bit format. As far as I know it belongs to one of the earliest generations of 20-bit format recordings. Thanks to the choice of this recording format combined with the rich hall tone of the Siemens Villa[*], the sound quality in the CD version is quite superb: you can enjoy both the rich harmony and the subtle nuances in the texture. And above all, Murray Perahia's brilliant and smooth touch was well preserved in this recording, which was not accomplished in the previous recordings he made with English Chamber Orchestra in the 1980s.

[*] The sound quality of the rehearsal section
recorded in Kammermusiksaal is rather poor.

It's a shame we can not enjoy this beautiful video in a DVD. I strongly believe that Sony should release a DVD version of this recording.

You can at least enjoy the high-quality sound of the digital recording in the CD version. Nevertheless, I do recommend to purchase this video version as well because it contains the wonderful rehearsal section as I explained above.

outstanding, an up-close look at one of the greats
This lengthy (2 hr) video is interesting because it shows both performance and rehearsal footage. Murray Perahia is seen performing both concertos, and, as a preview to each concerto, rehearsing the orchestra. (He is the conductor and pianist) A great "behind-the-scenes" look, which you don't get in a performance-only video or recording. There are also nice segments of "interview-at-the-piano" with Sir Denis Forman interviewing Murray Perahia. Highly Recommended.