Clementi: Piano Music

It was a great collection

I bought this CD for my kid because she had a piece assigned by her piano teacher. The pianist gave me the idea of tempo for the three movements. That was great. But he had a minor mistake in playing a single measure if you would listen closly.

July 7, 2008

"Playing With a Lot of Energy"

Clementi is such an important piano music composer that virtually no pianists can neglect his works. Yet, regrettably there is so little recorded Clementi available either in Amazon or elsewhere.

The pianist we have here is Balazs. He is Hungarian, a former pupil of Kocsis (a formost pianist/composer). For whatever it is worth, Balazs took 4th place in Leeds International Piano Competition in 1990. His father was a professor in Liszt Academy who also composed. The British press commended his playing for it's energy and imagination.

As pointed out by some other review(s), he is fast, as fast (and as even) as a machine gun. Technically, he is "brilliant" if not equally vibrant. There is indeed a lot of "energy" in his playing; his touch is nice too, all prerequisites of a virtuoso. But there isn't much in this record to show us the full spectrum of his imagination, let alone poetry, and the influence of the above mentioned two composers on him is yet to be discovered. Some slow movements in the sonatas are, however, rather charming.

On the whole, this is a very worthwhile reference especially at a budget price. And for those who have more time, they may as well check out Maria Tipo who has recorded quite a number of Clementi's sonatas for an Italian reading. October 26, 2005

Classical Piano Music Lover

EXCELLENT! EXCELLENT! EVERY single piece on this CD is great! I usually have a few favourites within a single CD but I love every single performance on this CD! And you can have this at an unbelievable price too! I found every piece exciting and just enjoyable. This is now my FAVOURITE classical piano CD and I think it will remain so for a very long time. I've listened to several other compositions of Muzio Clementi but this is by far the best. August 2, 2005

Overall, Well Done

The playing on this CD is not only technically brilliant, it's on the quicker side of the expected tempo range. Szokolay's comprehension of the music is such that he can deliver dynamic, rapid performances while still retaining the clarity of each individual note. My only complaint is that, as others have noted, these performances are somewhat lacking in feeling. Granted, there's a difference between the emotional content of a Clementi sonatina and a Beethoven sonata, but these pieces are all extremely well-crafted works by a minor master, and they do indeed have their passionate moments. It would have been nice to have more emphasis placed on these emotional spots. That's a small flaw, however, in an otherwise brilliantly-played collection of well-written music. I still admire Clementi's tuneful melodies and artistic balance ("Mozart Lite," one might say), and the playing on this CD, while somewhat flat, does nothing to deter me from that opinion overall. December 8, 2001

Fast, brilliant, exciting - one of my favorites

I bought the CD because my daughter was learning one of the selections in her piano class. I had no idea what to expect but the style of the composer and the technical skill of the performer have made this one of my favorite CDs (my collection exceeds 400 CDs). Clementi's use of thirds in the left hand lends his sonatinas a unique sound and the speed of the trills and runs makes this an exciting selection of pieces. Considering the pittance this CD costs I would think buying it is a no-brainer. July 17, 1999

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