Piano Sonata in A minor, No. 9, K.310
Piano Sonata in F major, No. 12, K.332
Piano Sonata in D major, No. 18, K.576
Piano Sonata in C major, No. 16, K.545
Piano Sonata in E-flat major, No. 4, K.282
Piano Sonata in G major, No. 5, K.283
Piano Sonata in A major, "Alla turca", No. 11, K.331

In the booklet notes this simple yet pertinent question is raised: "Do we need another recorded cycle of Mozart's piano sonatas?" Oh God No would be my immediate response if I was a record label executive. If there's one composer that's been recorded ad nauseam, it's Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Some performing artists have even re-recorded the same works more than once, and some record labels have taken the opportunity, whenever a special anniversary would come along, to re-issue the same recordings in special packaging or editions, over and over again. Especially when you take into consideration that some of these recordings have attained legendary status, why travel down the same road.

Pianist Orli Shaham's straightforward reply is: "Part of the answer lies in the personal journey of discovery; part of it is in wanting to share with as many people as possible the results of what could so easily be a selfish process." In her defence, she does a fine job of distinguishing and exposing the exclusive character of each sonata, even of each separate movement, and therefore prevents the listener suffering from ear fatigue. At times, the music of Mozart suffers from excessive reiteration, but as I had pointed out in a previous review of Volume 1 in this cycle, Shaham's highly expressive and varied phrasing lessens the monotony of this effect. She even manages to make the famous "Alla turca" movement from the Piano Sonata in A major sound more "musical" than most of the other rigid and mechanical accounts.

Do we need another recorded cycle of Mozart's piano sonatas? To answer yes in this case would be a totally justified and valid answer.