W A Mozart - Anne Landa

After  listening  to  this  CD , dedicated to Mozart, one is left fascinated and full of admiration.

The Salzburg genius, who  never fails to astound us with his music , is represented here by works of various origin and for a diverse range of musical instruments that were unusual or “new” for the era: from barrel organs to musical clocks: music boxes to glass harmonicas: tunes that are not famous but significant nonetheless.

One remains  impressed , again, by the technical and above all, expressive capabilities of the “concert accordion” that succeeds in the interpretation of a unusual repertoire , not the usual “classic” Mozart.

Finally we admire ( and thank) the interpreter Anne Landa, one of the few female, professional accordionists around today ( we remember here that historically, the first exponent of the concert accordionist in the 19th century,  was a woman, the French Louise Reisner and l’accordeon diatonique!

The Spanish accordionist merits high praise especially for the intelligent choice of programme. As she asserts in the accompanying booklet, usually concert accordionist have recently been busy in the contemporary music field or in transcribing music from the baroque or romantic periods, thus leaving the alone the huge repertoire of the classic period..

Here therefore with this CD, Landa has begun to redress the balance, adapting a few of the Mozart works to sound better with an accordion sound. The depth of the her interpretation is further evidenced by the sensitivity and clarity of her performance: qualities  that demonstrate the selected pieces in a new and illuminating way.

Reviewed by Alessandro Mugnoz, May 2008

This CD is available on the Anne Landa site on MusicForAccordion.com - high security eCommerce site run by WorldPay.com, part of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group