I was listening to one of my older cd's last night, the Mozart piano
quartets performed by Ingrid Haebler and members of the Berlin Philharmonic
on Philips.  Recorded in 1970, the sound holds up very well except for
some wiry string tone.  Haebler is perfect in these pieces; her pacing,
propulsion, intonation, and emotional display are superb.  The "members"
back her up expertly, and all parties are in excellent unison.  For HIP
fans, there's no need to worry about an "over the top" performance; these
artists know that Mozart isn't Dvorak(I stuck this in with memory of the
Praga Quartet playing Haydn in a similar fashion to how they play Dvorak).

Bilson on Archiv is my favorite period instrument recording of the piano
quartets, but the Haebler would be my overall choice.

Haebler also did a fine series of Mozart's piano sonatas for Denon; I
haven't heard the one she did for Philips.  My only problem with the Denon
series was a relative lack of daring in the fast movements, something that
Uchida does so well.

Don Satz
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