MOZART Piano Concertos Nos 15 & 16 (Bavouzet)
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Genre:
Orchestral
Label: Chandos
Magazine Review Date: 12/2018
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 71
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CHAN20035
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 15 |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Gábor Takács-Nagy, Conductor Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Piano Manchester Camerata Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 16 |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Gábor Takács-Nagy, Conductor Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Piano Manchester Camerata Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
Quintet for Keyboard, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn and Bassoon |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Gábor Takács-Nagy, Conductor Manchester Camerata Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
Author: David Threasher
The chamber piece is rightly popular but the two concertos don’t visit the concert hall as often as they might, perhaps because they are overshadowed not only by the others from the same year but also by the heftier works of 1785 86. It’s always a treat to be reminded of these works, though. K450 in B flat is all playfulness in its outer movements, while the central Andante forms its still centre, played here perhaps a touch slower than in other recordings but with a sustained, hymnlike intensity. K451 in D plays off its galant fanfare-like opening against tumbling contrapuntal string lines and concludes with a finale that gives its nursery-simple theme the full motivic workout.
Needless to say, as in the previous two volumes (11/16, 10/17), Bavouzet and the Mancunians under Takács Nagy find an ideal balance between the light-hearted and the serious in these wide-ranging pieces, which were clearly composed to give Mozart a chance to show off his virtuosity as both performer and composer. The chamber interplay between Bavouzet and the four winds in K452 carries over into the concertos, their all-important inner lines brought out without a hint of self-consciousness. The conjunction of soloist, band and Chandos’s characteristically fine engineering continue as they set out two years ago and conspires in a fascinating portent of what these players might do in due course with the later, larger, deeper concertos.
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