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Mozart: The Complete Piano Works for Four Hands” is available through membership in The Musical Heritage Society, America’s leading classical music club. To join, visit www.musicalheritage.com or call 732-531-7003 Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
"This splendid CD set is from the husband and wife team of Misha and
Cipa Dichter, who met at Juilliard as students of the great Rosina Lhevinne.
Their warmly-nuanced, intimate playing is utterly captivating, with beautiful
balances, well-chosen tempos, and cultivated tone. Misha and Cipa Dichter
have given us a real winner here. It's now at the forefront among versions of
this delightful music. Very highly recommended."
Musicweb-international RECORDING OF THE MONTH, September, 2005!! Read the January 17, 2006 Minnesota Public Radio review.
"Piano duo enthusiasts will return again and again to Misha and Cipa Dichter's new three-CD set. Their playing has classical restraint combined with energy and a feeling of authority. The music comes to life in a performance soaring with gusto and sculpted phrasing...making this a delightful, memorable recording." Leonne Lewis, Clavier Magazine, January, 2006 "This goes on my ‘Discs of the Year’ list without hesitation. Seminal listening in every respect." [click to read full review] Gramophone review, August, 2005. "This set is an unmitigated delight. When listening to these works one can only marvel at the genius of Mozart. Perhaps only the D-Major Sonata, K. 448, approaches masterwork status; but what melodic inspiration abounds in the other five sonatas! The shorter works are all lovely, gracefully aristocratic in tone. The Busoni arrangement of the Fantasia in f-minor for Musical Clockwork is brilliant. Grieg's two-piano version of the familiar solo Piano Sonata K. 545 has often been criticized as indulgent. Yet, taken on its own terms, it is a charmer. All of these works were intended for pianists to have fun at private gatherings, and that is exactly what Misha and Cipa Dichter invite us to do. It is as if we have become part of their private music party. Their playing is sparkling, relaxed, totally musical. This is note-perfect playing that is never pedantic. The players are clearly enjoying themselves. They have a fine sense of classical style without exaggeration. The engineers have recorded them in natural perspective. Misha Dichter was a Tschaikopvsky Competition winner in 1966. It is wonderful to hear him playing here with such lilt and effervescence. A great recording!"
"American Record Guide" July/August '05 "Finally, the Fantasia in F Minor, K. 608, written a year before Mozart's death, was originally for a mechanical organ operated by a clockwork mechanism....Like all the music in this collection, it is witty, melodious and superbly polished. So is the Dichters' performance." [click to read full review] Joseph McLellan "The Dichters keep its dark passion and bustling energy moving in clear lines." [click to read full review] Gary Lemco "The Dichters are rare not only among pianists but musicians in general....Their dual musical efforts are conceived as one. That's all there is to it; but then, that's everything.....The Dichters...clearly share a single goal for this fine three-CD collection: to give Mozart his proper place in the sun. They do so hands down, so to speak... The Sonata in D Major...is the first piece on the first CD, and right away you know you're in for a safe, secure, and happy ride. The same sense of authority, leavened by pleasure. pervades all the other works in the set, especially (for me) the superbly played variations in G Major and the two fantasias." [click to read full review] Craig Smith
MISHA AND CIPA DICHTER ALBUM OFFERS RARE RECORDING OF MOZART’S COMPLETE PIANO WORKS FOR FOUR HANDS Now Available from The Musical Heritage Society In their first recording together, pianists Misha and Cipa Dichter have created a rare three-CD album, produced by The Musical Heritage Society, of the complete piano works for four hands by Mozart plus four-hand arrangements by Busoni and Grieg. The Dichters first began playing this music when they were students of Rosina Lhevinne at Juilliard in the 1960s. In 1972, four years after their marriage, they made their first joint appearance at the Hollywood Bowl in a performance of Mozart’s E-flat double concerto. Mozart wrote his first composition for piano four hands—Sonata in C Major, K.19d--for himself and his older sister Maria Anna when he was just nine years old, and it became a showpiece of their European concerts in the 1760s. Mozart continued to explore this genre throughout his life, writing Fantasia in F Minor, K. 608 one year before he died. Originally commissioned for mechanical organ, Mozart agreed to write the piece so that he could send “a few ducats” home to his wife. Through research and as a special addition to this collection, the Dichters discovered a rescoring of Fantasy, K. 608 by Ferruccio Busoni, as well as an arrangement by Edvard Grieg of Mozart’s K. 545, a little piano sonata for beginners known to generations of piano students. Leaving the first piano part exactly as Mozart had written it, Grieg added a second independent part, played on this recording by Misha Dichter. In his liner notes, Anthony Rudel remarks, “if you listen carefully to the fiendishly tricky passages and intricate interplay between the parts, you can hear Mozart chuckling to himself.” Commenting on this recording, Misha Dichter said: “Many of the works contained here are Mozart’s finest creations, and it has been a joy and privilege to carry on the great tradition of performing and recording this repertoire.” President of The Musical Heritage Society Jeffrey Nissim said: “The Society is delighted to renew its commitment to recording and preserving important artists and music for our members by recording this wonderful Mozart set with the Dichters.” The Complete Piano Works for Four Hands Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1793) Misha and Cipa Dichter, Pianists The Musical Heritage Society: 5379317
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