In the mood for Mozart

Now and again, I get a hankering for Mozart's clean lines and well-developed plots, which brought me to these recordings by Leon Mccawley. In the hands of an amateur, Mozart can sound ridiculous, but in the hands of a master, Mozart can sound sublime, as he does here. There is a cleanness and joy that bursts forth from Mozart's piano works, but it requires a flawless technique to make it happen -- and Mccawley's got it. Make no mistake: Mozart isn't for everyone, especially if you're depressed (Chopin is good for depression, I've found). But when all's right with the world and you're in the mood to hug a tree or praise the beauty of a flower, then Mozart's your man.

Solid

SunCat

A generally solid performance, with really nice renderings sprinkled here and there. The recording quality is acceptable, with the piano sounding a bit far away and too bright in upper registers. McCawley deserves better recording quality. Regarding the performace, I'll guess that the 511 rondo is one of McCawley's favorites: he seems most in touch throughout with that piece. I get the sense that this set was recorded as a "project," and I suspect future years will see McCawley record them again, to greater depth. Not many tender moments, but not pedantic by any stretch. All in all, not nearly as thoughtful as Brendel's Mozart. You won't be oohing and ahhing, as you might with Brendel (or even Barenboim), but you will be listening to the music and not the performance, if that makes sense. These should wear well over many listenings. I won't say these are the definitive Mozart sonatas, but there is something here that tells me an older McCawley could record them later.