What strikes you first and foremost about this set of Mozart sonatas for violin and piano is the enthusiasm that husband and wife,
Dénes Zsigmondy and
Anneliese Nissen, have, not only for the music, but also, you suspect, for playing together. Their enjoyment borders on exuberance in some of the Allegros, but even in slow movements, the two of them are careful in their articulations, making sure they are completely together in their fairly broad musical expressions.
Zsigmondy tends to play with a heavy bow, while
Nissen's playing is crisp in the faster movements, more graceful in the slow movements. All this could make these sonatas seem over-Romanticized to some listeners, and there are just a couple spots where you feel accuracy is sacrificed in the fervor. The final works in this set, recorded with Zsuzsa Berényi at the piano, after
Nissen's death, are more refined, more what you would expect of Classical-era music. However, you have the impression that Berényi, no matter how capably she plays, is not as familiar with the works, and that the restrained expression is due, in part, to this and to not following
Zsigmondy's lead.
Zsigmondy is always, very obviously, the star in all of these sonatas, despite what musicologists say about the role of the violin in many of them. The recording is focused on him, so closely that you can hear him digging into the strings at times. But regardless of how you feel about who is accompanying whom, it is
Zsigmondy's and
Nissen's zeal for the music and for playing that is most appealing.