Mozart: Complete Piano Sonatas Volumes 5 & 6 (CD Review)

by Karl Nehring

Vol. 5 (CD1): No. 7 in C Major K.309; No. 8 in D Major K.311; No. 10 in C Major K.330; Vol. 6 (CD2): No. 14 in C minor K.457; No. 15 in F Major K.533/494. Orli Shaham, piano. Canary Classics CC21.

The Israeli-born American pianist Orli Shaham (b. 1975) is a well-traveled musician who has performed with many of the major orchestras around the world and has appeared in recital in venues ranging from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House. She is also a busy musician, serving as Artistic Director of the Pacific Symphony’s chamber series and of the interactive children's concert series, Orli Shaham’s Bach Yard. She is also a co-host of the national radio program From the Top and serves on the faculty at The Juilliard School. We have reviewed several previous releases by Ms. Shaham in Classical Candor – all featuring music by Mozart. John Puccio reviewed a disc of piano concertos (you can read his review here), I reviewed Volumes 1-3 of her traversal of the sonatas in a review you can read here, followed by my subsequent review of Volume 4. This latest two-CD release signals the completion of the set, and a remarkable set it has turned out to be.

 

Regarding the question of why we need yet another recorded cycle of the Mozart piano sonatas, Shaham recognizes “that is the key question of the whole project… Part of the answer lies in the personal journey of discovery; part of it is in wanting to share with as many people as possible the results of what could so easily be a selfish process. I’ve found some very cool things along the way… I believe that most of us have understood during the Covid pandemic what performers have known for a long time: that there is no substitute for live music. Although these are recordings, I am trying here to capture the spontaneous feeling of live performance… I believe that contemplating things from the perspective of the voice is crucial for Mozart – very few of his lines in the piano sonatas and other instrumental works are not vocally inspired. Everything is singable; it’s rare to find intervals in Mozart’s music that are not. In so many ways, Mozart taught the keyboard to sing.” There is indeed a fluid, singing quality to Shaham’s playing that is engaging and pleasurable. The shorter sonatas on Vol. 5 highlight more of her playful side, while the final volume of the set shows Shaham bringing out more complex aspects of Mozart’ music – still with an underlying singing quality of expression, but with a wider and deeper range of feeling. 

 

Although the dark COVID-19 pandemic onset year 2020 is now finally starting to recede into the paat (although the virus is still among us, and precautions – especially vaccinations – are still particularly prudent), it is worth noting that this recording project is yet another that was undertaken under lockdown precautions. Shaham recorded alone onstage in Mechanics Hall in Worcester, MA, on a modern Steinway piano. The recording producer and editor for the series is the veteran Erica Brenner, who worked remotely from Cleveland, OH. The recording engineer for the beginning of the sessions was the late Michael Bishop (1951-2021), whom audiophiles may recognize as the engineer responsible for many of those spectacular Telarc recordings of days gone by. Following the loss of Bishop, engineering duties were taken over by Robert Friedrich, himself a top-rate engineer. Rest assured that Ms. Shaham – and your ears – have been afforded some truly excellent sonics.