COMPOSERS: Various
LABELS: EMI
Daniel Barenboim’s EMI survey of the piano concertos (as soloist and conductor with the English Chamber Orchestra) affirmed his credentials as a master Mozartian.
Another prized Barenboim recording of the period was this lordly 1976 account of the K361 Gran partita, majestically performed by the ECO winds, and coupled here with the K205 Divertimento (5 74365 2).
Leif Ove Andsnes’s disc of GRIEG piano works (5 74363 2) is self-recommending, as is Daniel Binelli’s pioneering recording of PIAZZOLLA’s Bandoneón Concerto, vital fare if you’ve a taste for Latin American music (5 74368 2).
Lastly in this survey, some treasures from the old Turnabout LP catalogue have resurfaced on CD in three-disc packages on the budget Concerto Royale label. Its listings are extensive – over 50 issues to date – but most are poor-sounding transfers from pretty obscure sources.
The Melos Quartet’s BEETHOVEN sets (206212 & 206213) make secure bargain options, though, and the pianists Alfred Brendel and Werner Haas are both heard to good advantage in the Diabelli Variations and several of the sonatas (206210).
There’s also a group of HAYDN concertos (206230), generally well played, and including several rarities you’ll be lucky to find elsewhere.
Finally, Ruggiero Ricci was at the height of his powers when he recorded SAINT-SAËNS’s works for violin and orchestra for Turnabout.
Concerto Royale’s new compilation (206239) also includes the Second Cello Concerto and two of the symphonies. Good transfers and performances these, but quality fluctuates widely across this series.