Mozart: Adagio in B minor, Piano Sonatas K 332, 333, & 457
Alfred Brendel is revisiting favorite composers and works, and his latest account of these Mozart Sonatas and the great B minor Adagio is masterful. While not too different from his earlier recordings, they have greater incisiveness and power in the faster movements and more depth in the slow movements. A highlight is the B minor Adagio, one of Mozart's greatest keyboard works, in which Brendel's poetry is allied to profundity. The C minor Sonata, K. 457, is another masterpiece that Brendel invests with poise, yet he never downplays the turbulent emotions breaking through the classical frame. The earlier sonatas, too, have a lyric intensity and vibrancy that separate these performances from the crowd. Recent Brendel recordings and recitals indicate a new warmth and color in his playing, and the outstanding engineering captures that here.--Dan Davis