Peter Serkin, whose recorded output is dwarfed by his father’s in sheer size but by no means in artistic distinction, is spotlighted in a new release playing Mozart: his complete RCA recordings of the composer. When his set of Piano Concertos Nos. 14-19 was released in 1973, High Fidelity’s reviewer wrote: “I have heard no other pianist who seems to follow every pulse of this Mozartean vitality quite as beautifully as Peter Serkin, and the combined efforts of Serkin fils with Alexander Schneider and the English Chamber Orchestra on this RCA set form very simply one of the most important contributions to the Mozart discography.” The new box also contains Serkin’s distinguished mid-1970s recordings of the Clarinet Quintet and Piano-Wind Quintet K 452 with members of his distinguished ensemble TASHI. And Mozart lovers and admirers of this outstanding pianist will be particularly excited by the reissue of Peter Serkin’s extraordinary solo Mozart album from the late-1960s. High Fidelity called it “exceptional – Serkin plays every note as if his life depended on it”, and a more recent reviewer in ClassicsToday described it as sounding “as fresh and individually compelling as it did four decades ago when I first acquired it as a double-LP set and wore it out within a year… Serkin simply is astonishing… This is a release to cherish, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.”
CD 1
2 Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 14 in E-Flat Major K 449
3 Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 15 in B-Flat Major K 450
4 Concerto No. 10 for 2 Pianos and Orchestra in E-Flat Major K 365 (316A)
English Chamber Orchestra · Marlboro Festival Orchestra
Alexander Schneider · Rudolf Serkin, Piano
CD 2
2 Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 16 in D Major K 451
3 Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 17 in G Major K 453
English Chamber Orchestra · Alexander Schneider
CD 3
2 Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 18 in B-Flat Major K 456
3 Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 19 in F Major “2nd Coronation Concerto” K 459
English Chamber Orchestra · Alexander Schneider
CD 4
2 Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet in a Major K 581
3 Quintet for Piano, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn and Bassoon in E-Flat Major K 452
Tashi
CD 5
2 Fantasia in C minor K 475
3 Piano Sonata No. 14 in C minor K 457
4 Fantasia (Prelude) and Fugue in C Major K 394 (383A)
CD 6
2 Piano Sonata No. 15 in F Major K 533 / K 494
3 Fantasia in D minor K 397 (385G)
4 Rondo in D Major K 485
5 Rondo in a Minor K 511