Perspectives

• Main performer: Mitsuko Uchida
• Booklet languages: English
• Time: 150:14
• Release Date: 2003

Review

Mitsuko Uchida's greatest hits? Essentially. Everything Uchida does well is on this pair of discs, starting with her forceful interpretations of Mozart's demonic Piano Sonata in A minor and his Sturm und Drang Piano Concerto in D minor and moving through her brilliantly played Debussy's etudes, her charmingly personable Schumann Carnaval, her terrifyingly virtuosic Beethoven Variations in C minor, her delicately colored Schubert, and ending with her almost inaudible Schoenberg. But Mitsuko Uchida's greatest hits? Essentially. Prompted by Uchida's year-long sabbatical from the concert stage, Philips put together what in another genre would be called a greatest-hits package, with a photograph on the front cover by Annie Leibovitz, three pages of adoring liner notes, and photographs of Uchida as a child at the keyboard. Could anyone imagine Glenn Gould allowing this to happen to him? Could anyone imagine Deutsche Grammophon thinking this was a good way to present Maurizio Pollini? But like most greatest-hits packages, at least this one has the merit of introducing a fine artist to a larger audience. And despite all of the silly glamour of the packaging, Uchida is a very fine artist. ~ James Leonard, Rovi

Performances

Composer	Title	Time
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart	Piano Sonata No. 8 in A minor, K. 310 (K. 300d)	21:41
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart	Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466	33:34
Claude Debussy	Études (12) for piano in 2 books, L. 136 (No. 1 Pour les "cinq doigts" (d'après Monsieur Czerny))	2:52
Claude Debussy	Études (12) for piano in 2 books, L. 136 (No. 3 Pour Les Quartes)	5:40
Claude Debussy	Études (12) for piano in 2 books, L. 136 (No. 6 Pour les huit doigts)	1:32
Claude Debussy	Études (12) for piano in 2 books, L. 136 (No. 11 Pour les Arpèges Composés)	4:52
Claude Debussy	Études (12) for piano in 2 books, L. 136 (No. 12 Pour les Accords)	5:09
Robert Schumann	Carnaval for piano, Op. 9	31:12
Ludwig van Beethoven	Variations (32) on an original theme for piano in C minor, WoO 80	11:13
Franz Schubert	Moment musical for piano in F minor ("Air russe"), D. 780/3 (Op. 94/3)	1:48
Franz Schubert	Impromptu for piano in C minor, D. 899/1 (Op. 90/1)	9:37
Franz Schubert	Impromptu for piano in G flat major, D. 899/3 (Op. 90/3)	5:40
Franz Schubert	Impromptu for piano in A flat major, D. 899/4 (Op. 90/4)	8:08
Arnold Schoenberg	Little Pieces (6) for piano, Op. 19	7:16

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