MOZART Piano Concertos Nos 17 & 26
Fourth Mozart concerto disc from fortepianist Brautigam
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Magazine Review Date: 04/2013
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: BIS-SACD-1944
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 17 |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Cologne Academy Michael Alexander Willens, Conductor Ronald Brautigam, Musician, Fortepiano Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 26, 'Coronation' |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Cologne Academy Michael Alexander Willens, Conductor Ronald Brautigam, Musician, Fortepiano Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
Author: Harriet Smith
The 26th Concerto, K537, throws up more editorial issues than any other among the mature pieces, with a manuscript that is in places distinctly light on information. It’s more symphonic in scope than K453 and with the addition of trumpets and timpani comes an added degree of pomp. Here, though, the timpani are a tad reticent. It’s striking to compare this new version with Curzon (I make no apology for comparing period with modern), one of the finest and most probing of ‘traditional’ performances, with Kertész and the LSO delving into every phrase but never sounding overbearing or heavy. And once you’ve heard Curzon’s profound eloquence married to a quiet rhetoric, Brautigam sounds a touch two-dimensional. Uchida, too, is engaged in a dynamic conversation that still sounds fresh a quarter of a century on.
In this new set there are also moments of imprecision of ensemble, not least in the orchestral entry in the second movement of K537. Overall, certainly worth hearing for the G major but there are stronger contenders out there in the Coronation.
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