Mozart: Songs and Piano Works: Lieder K147, 308, 391, 468, 473, 474, 476, 518, 519, 523, 524, 530, 596, 597; plus Fantasy in D minor, K 397; Rondo in F, K 494; Variations on 'Mio caro Adone', K180; eine kleine Gigue in G, K 574

COMPOSERS: Mozart
LABELS: Harmonia Mundi
ALBUM TITLE: Mozart
WORKS: Songs and Piano Works: Lieder K147, 308, 391, 468, 473, 474, 476, 518, 519, 523, 524, 530, 596, 597; plus Fantasy in D minor, K 397; Rondo in F, K 494; Variations on 'Mio caro Adone', K180; eine kleine Gigue in G, K 574
PERFORMER: Werner Güra (tenor), Christoph Berner (piano)
CATALOGUE NO: HMC 901979

The depths of Mozart's heart and soul are not revealed in either his piano music or his songs. But, just as his life was scattered with the compositions of songs (he would, apparently, frequently add one to his album when taking leave of a friend), so in this recital, Mozart's songs are exquisitely interleaved with piano pieces. It's the perfect May-blossom: sensitively programmed, beautifully presented, and sung and played to near perfection. Werner Güra makes real performance art of the slightest ditty - enlivening the salon pastorals of, for instance, 'Die Verschweigung' and 'Dans un bois solitaire' with teasing inflections and gently tinted phrasing. Christoph Berner, on his sweet-toned Streicher fortepiano, is intimately attuned to every nuance of Güra's tenr. In his own right, he gives a perfectly placed performance of the D minor Fantasy. Mozart's little Handelian K 574 Gigue is a verdant prelude to 'Komm, lieber Mai' and two more vividly characterised songs of spring 'Das Veilchen' leads naturally to the equally disarming Rondo in F.