Mitsuko Uchida's recordings of the solo piano music have established her as a Mozartian of exceptional sensibility, and it is good that she is now giving us a series of the concertos. Her concerts in London at which she directed the ECO from the keyboard were highly praised, though when I heard her the demands of directing were sometimes making it difficult for her to achieve the poise which is a characteristic of her playing. Her collaboration here with Jeffrey Tate is a happy one. Erik Smith, writing in the CD booklet, says that the plan is for each recording to contain two concertos composed about the same time, in order to reveal the profound differences of emotional content often found between works Mozart wrote almost simultaneously. The prospect of the series is attractive.
Whether the profound differences in the characters of the D minor Concerto and its immediate successor are fully revealed here I rather doubt, and I think your reaction to the record will depend on how sharp you expect the differences to be. The performances please me in many ways: they flow well, they are fresh, the detail is scrupulously cared for, and Uchida's grace and taste have made me reflect that we need to hear Mozart concertos played by women as well as men. (He wrote several of them with women soloists in mind, after all!) But if, for you, the D minor Concerto represents one of the fullest realizations of his 'daemonic' aspect, as the nineteenth century described it, you may find her range of expression too narrow, as I do. There is no doubt the urgency and restlessness of the first movement are more strongly characterized by some other players and conductors—by Brendel and Marriner, for example, on Philips, or Serkin and Szell on CBS, who remind you that this was the concerto Beethoven performed and wrote cadenzas for. Actually Brendel doesn't remind you about the Beethoven cadenzas since he plays two of his own: but he it is who releases the extraordinary energy of the outer movements, better than anyone, and finds an ideal balance of power and grace with which to project the concerto as a whole. Added to that, the crisp and at times almost fiery orchestral style Marriner draws from the ASMF seems to me preferable to the more conventional contribution of Tate with the ECO. I like the thrust and the cutting edge of the earlier Philips; the other seems a shade comfortable. If you play Uchida/Tate after Brendel/Marriner you are unlikely to find them dull, far from it, but you will certainly hear a different tone of voice. The orchestral sound on the new Philips seems to me lacking definition in the middle range, just a little. That may be because we are viewing the orchestra from further back than on some other Mozart recordings of the ECO; the sound is certainly more forward on Lupu's version of the C major Concerto on Decca Jubilee. To say the Philips balance has placed the pianist among the orchestra as if her role were an obbligato one would be to exaggerate, but it is that kind of picture; and I've no doubt that is the way Uchida wanted it. Her beautiful sound is always there. The balance, nicely judged, is all of a piece with her quiet eloquence and cantabile style. When she has an aria to sing, or long cantilenas to trace, as in the slow movements of these concertos, everything comes together and the results are exquisite.
In the C major Concerto she is still at times too delicate for me. Her inclination to withdraw from a forte rather than sustain it for its full period is almost a mannerism, and when that happens the presence of her playing is weakened. There is no doubt, however, that she relishes the richness of the writing. If you see this concerto as a work of symphonic majesty, following the D minor as the Jupiter follows the G minor Symphony, you will warm to the way she fills out its tranquil breadth. The maestoso marking which for a long time was thought to be Mozart's own qualification for the opening Allegro is once again in place; indeed, the timpani are surprisingly loud. Yet thanks to the soloist's natural grace there is no danger of heaviness. The orchestra's start to the finale is on the careful side but she brings vivacity to it. The cadenzas, her own, have to be endured, but that is usually how it is in this concerto—and I have heard worse. In sum, her recording of it doesn't rank with the finest you could buy, nor does her D minor. I don't think I ever expected them to. I recommend that you hear the record and enjoy it on its own terms, in the expectation that Uchida playing Mozart is going to be something of interest to all discerning collectors.'