In celebration of the day, we take a journey in the company of Mitsuko Uchida. This is sampling of recordings from throughout her career, exploring her wide ranging interests from Mozart to Schoenberg – these are all recordings I love and would be so happy to have along with me on a desert island.
We begin with the most celebrated (and romantic!) of Mozart piano concerto slow movements and proceed on to some lesser-known Schubert miniatures, no less exquisite for their brevity. Schumann comes next in two celebrated movements, followed by a surprisingly apt tiny piece by Schoenberg as a prelude to visionary Debussy in a now-legendary recording of his Etudes. We then turn to perhaps the quirkiest of all Mozart miniatures, then conclude with the joyous but rarely played Concert Rondo in D, a fittingly spirited finale to this brief sampler. And all of it in eager anticipation of musical joys to come in Ojai this June!
Ara Guzelimian
Artistic and Executive Director