Maurizio Pollini's credentials as a musician are unquestionable, his pianism of enviable finish. Yet this recording is only a partial success because his skill as a conductor isn't fully honed; and despite the presence of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, it prevents these performances from achieving their intended distinction.

A shortcoming is that Pollini does not respond fully to the buoyancy in the orchestral writing. There is little tension and relaxation within many phrases so they tend to “sit” rather than come to life. Nor does Pollini the soloist always acknowledge the subsidiary side to his role, and the wind instruments - of equal importance - get submerged because he is too loud. The recording is unhelpful. His prominent presence (more so in the cadenzas) probably makes it difficult for a corporate approach to hold sway.

Nevertheless, Pollini is aware of Mozartian style. The slow movements are most affectingly played; and if he is a mite staid in the first movement of K467 (the direction Allegro maestoso, which suggests a measure of stateliness, might not be by Mozart; one copy of the score contains no marking at all), the tempo itself is an example of his commendable refusal to hustle the music. Pollini simply needs more experience of conducting, an art that Raymond Leppard has been practising for more than 50 years.

His pianist, Pascal Rogé, is also forwardly placed and pushed further upfront for the cadenzas. That of the first movement of K503, presumably the soloist's own, is so out of perspective that the orchestra's grand re-entry is enfeebled. These bad lapses in production standards put Rogé, in particular, at a disadvantage. Throughout these performances he proves to be a supreme technician and deeply sensitive musician. Moreover, he is given wholehearted support by Leppard who is in complete control of orchestral texture and instrumental balance, reticent, spongy timpani notwithstanding. But the lopsided presentation disturbs concentration and takes the edge off absorbing interpretations that complement the ones by Alfred Brendel and Charles Mackerras. Readers who are not bothered by the flaws in this new recording might care to have both discs.