The sublime results were worth the wait: after forty years of collaboration, Maria João Pires and Maestro Claudio Abbado record two of Mozart’s most beloved piano concertos for the very first time. Maria João Pires weaves dark, dramatic strains into the miraculous luminosity of the D minor Concerto No.20, K.466 with a simplicity that makes her Mozart supreme. She then bestows a glowing majesty upon Mozart’s last piano concerto, the serene Concerto No.27 K. 595 in B flat major, as only an artist of her gifts and profound experience can. Orchestra Mozart and Maestro Abbado support Pires with translucent sound and immaculate style: an exceptional encounter between two musical giants of our time.

Arthur Grumiaux's performances of Mozart, whether of the violin concertos, the sonatas, or various chamber pieces with violin, were marked by patrician elegance and an unfailing sense of style. For this 1973 recording of the string quintets, arguably the summit of Mozart's chamber output, Grumiaux surrounded himself with musicians of a similar stripe, and the result remains among the treasures of the catalog. By today's standards, the performances may sound just a bit laid-back and relaxed, but the ensemble is marvelous, and the beauty of tone Grumiaux and company achieved in these readings has rarely been approached on disc since.

The first part of the sacred singspiel Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots, which was first performed in the Knights’ Hall of the Archbishop of Salzburg’s Palace on 12 March 1767, represents Mozart’s first extended dramatic work. He was eleven years old when he wrote it. Even without making allowances for the composer’s remarkable youth, Mozart’s music for the first part of Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots is highly accomplished, full of descriptive flair and artistry. The allegorical figures of Barmherzigkeit and Gerechtigkeit are clearly differentiated, the former’s sympathetic compassion contrasting with the latter’s more matronly severity, while Weltgeist’s carefree hedonism is given full reign in arias of considerable virtuosity and difficulty.

Ever since stepping into the arena of international club electronica almost a decade ago, the young man they call Stefan Obermaier first and foremost stayed true to himself and to his unique sonic vision as a producer and DJ.