Jaime Laredo's favorite Mozart

Jaime Laredo, conducting the symphony this weekend, gave us his list of all-time favorite pieces by Mozart. Unfortunately, there was no space in the paper today to include the list with the Q&A. So here's the list, followed by some of my own suggestions of recordings:

1. Mozart's Clarinet Quintet
(Tokyo String Quartet with Richard Stoltzman, RCA)

2. The late piano concertos, K. 488 in A Major and K. 595. "The last one really kills me. Every time I do a Mozart Piano Concerto, I wish I were a pianist," Laredo says.
(Richard Goode, pianist, with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Nonesuch. Also, Murray Perahia for K. 595, with the English Chamber Orchestra)

3. The slow movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9, K. 271 (being performed this weekend). "To me, the slow movement is one of the greatest things that Mozart ever wrote."
(Richard Goode's recording is suggested for this one, too.)

4. The "Sinfonia Concertante" for violin and viola. "That is the greatest work he wrote for strings and orchestra. The violin concertos, as beautiful as they are, are not on this level."
(Jaime Laredo with Cho-Liang Lin for Sony Classical.)

5. The Viola Quintet in G Minor. "There’s something about how he has two slow movements following each other, and each one is so unbelievable, it’s beyond anything you can imagine."
(Juilliard String Quartet with Leslie Parnas, Sony)

6. The "Divertimento" in E-flat Major, K. 563, for violin, viola and cello. "You just go from one glory to another to another to another. Sharon (Robinson, his wife and a cellist) and I have played that many times, and it happens to be one of the most difficult pieces ever written."
(Yo-Yo Ma, Gidon Kremer and Kim Kashkashian, Sony)

7. "Of the symphonies, I have to admit I would have to put Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, as my favorite one. You’re asking the impossible. The "Jupiter" (No. 41) is fantastic, but there’s something about the G Minor; there’s a kind of drama and sadness and melancholy in it that I love."
(Prague Chamber Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras, conductor, Telarc)

8. "Of the operas, I’d have to say 'The Marriage of Figaro' is my favorite. The arias are from heaven."
(Sir Charles Mackerras conducting the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Alastair Miles; Nuccia Focile, Carol Vaness, Susanne Mentzer, Telarc)

Got a Mozart favorite? Tell us, below!