COMPOSERS: Mozart
LABELS: BIS
WORKS: Piano Sonata in E flat, K282; Piano Sonata in G, K283; Piano Sonata in D, K284
PERFORMER: Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano)
CATALOGUE NO: CD-836
The opening bars of the E flat Sonata (K282) sound as if they are being practised rather diffidently in another room. The impression remains throughout this unusual first
movement, a languid Adagio whose quirky harmonies have an improvisatory quality, as though Brautigam is uncertain that these teally are the notes that Mozart intended. It is, of course, a misleading impression. It is the spacious acoustic ofLanna church in Sweden, not distance, that gives the recording a sense of remoteness. As for Brautigam's little hesitations, these are merely one of the many small mannerisms with which he colours his performance. Perhaps he feels that the use of a fortepiano requires endlessly varying tempi and shifting accents to make up for the strident clarity of a modern Steinway. His enthusiasm is evident, but I find it a little fidgety. Christopher Lambton