“There are many ways to arrange and release such a cycle – simply going through the numbered sonatas from one through 18 is the most straightforward – so it is interesting that the sequencing of Shaham’s cycle, or at least its first volume, is not numerical but strictly musical. This Canary Classics CD includes the three Mozart sonatas written in, yes, B-flat: K. 281, 333 and 570. The first of these dates to 1774, the second most likely to 1784, and the third to 1789; they thus span a considerable portion of Mozart’s compositional life. Interestingly, it is K. 281 that is in many respects the most virtuosic: it packs a great deal of display into its outer movements and considerable operatic emotionalism into its central Andante amoroso. Shaham is not a historic-performance pianist, and she does not hesitate to delve into the warmth and sustained beauty of which modern pianos are more capable than were the instruments of Mozart’s time. Yet she knows when to keep her touch light, as in the outer movements of this sonata, and she certainly knows how to handle ornamentation, which proliferates under her hands in this sonata and throughout the CD. There is perhaps a bit too much sustaining pedal in the finale of K. 281, but the overall lightness is there – despite being harder to achieve on a modern piano than on an instrument of Mozart’s time. In K. 333, the longest of these three sonatas, the operatic elements are most prominent in the opening movement, which glides along like a sweet little cabaletta until Mozart makes it something more pianistic. The second movement also has a singing quality – it is actually marked Andante cantabile – and Shaham makes the most of this element, just as she pays close attention to the gracefulness of a finale marked Allegretto grazioso. In K. 570, Shaham elegantly and warmly accentuates the gentle rocking motion underlying the first movement; presents the central Adagio in slow, lullaby-like manner, slightly lengthening the pauses between phrases; and brightens matters up significantly in a sprightly final Allegretto. These are very fine modern-piano performances, generally on the slow side compared with other readings of these works: Shaham enjoys exploring the emotional impact of the music and does not hesitate to select tempos and pianistic effects that enable her to do so. There is something charmingly old-fashioned about the result – which, among other things, shows quite neatly the many ways in which Mozart used the key of B-flat to bring out different feelings and emotions in these three sonatas.”
TransCentury Media reviews Orli Shaham's "Mozart Piano Sonatas Vol.1"