Mozart Piano Concertos No. 20 and No. 24 - Clara Haskil
Clara Haskil’s recording of Mozart’s Piano Concertos No. 20 in D minor, K.466, and No. 24 in C minor, K.491, with the Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux under Igor Markevitch, stands as one of the most inward and serious readings in the Mozart concerto discography. Recorded in Paris in 1960, shortly before Haskil’s death, it captures an artist whose approach to Mozart was marked by humility, clarity, and an almost ascetic devotion to the score.
Haskil’s pianism is immediately recognisable. Her touch is light yet firm, her articulation crystalline, and her phrasing free from rhetorical excess. She avoids any sense of virtuoso display, instead allowing Mozart’s melodic lines to unfold with natural speech-like inflection. There is no attempt to “project” emotion through exaggerated dynamics or rubato; expressiveness arises from balance, timing, and tonal purity. This restraint gives her interpretations a moral seriousness that suits these two dark, minor-key concertos particularly well.
This recording remains a landmark not because of orchestral brilliance or interpretive novelty, but because of its integrity. Haskil reveals Mozart as a composer of profound seriousness and emotional depth, achieved through simplicity rather than excess. In these performances, the music speaks with rare honesty, making this recording an enduring reference for understanding Mozart’s darker, more philosophical side.
Artist(s): Piano – Clara Haskil
Conductor – Igor Markevitch
Orchestra – Orchestre Des Concerts Lamoureux
Recording Info: Recorded at Salle de la Chimie, Paris, November 1960
Sourced from a 4-track tape
Components used for Transfer: Analog: Transport - Nagra 4SJ modified with Flux Heads
Preamp - Custom Tape Pre-amp designed by Victor Khomenko of Balanced Audio Technology
Digital: Merging Hapi Analog to Digital Converter clocked by an Antelope Audio 10MX Atomic Clock
Software: Merging Pyramix v15
Power Conditioning: Shunyata Research Everest 8000 for all components with Shunyata Sigma-X Power Cords.
All components are grounded to Shunyata ALTAIRA Hubs
Piano Concerto No. 20 In D Minor, K466
Cadenza – Clara Haskil
1 Allegro 13:30
2 Romance 9:37
3 Rondo (Allegro Assai) 7:07
Piano Concerto No. 24 In C Minor, K491
4 (Allegro)
Cadenza – Clara Haskil
13:15
5 Larghetto 7:18
6 (Allegretto) 9:01
Cadenza – Nikita Magaloff
Please Note: This release was edited in DXD PCM from a DSD256 Master
then the DXD edited master was used to generate the final DSD files using
Merging Technologies Album Publishing.
DXD (352.8KHz 24/32 bit PCM) is one of the best and least destructive formats for post-processing DSD originated digital recordings
Copyright © & ℗ High Definition Tape Transfers 2026, including all compilation, transfer, remastering, and restoration aspects
 |
|