COMPOSERS: Mozart
LABELS: Carlton Turnabout
WORKS: Piano Concerto No. 17 in G, K453; Piano Concerto No. 19 in F, K459
PERFORMER: Alfred Brendel (piano); Vienna Volksoper Orchestra/ Paul Angerer, Wilfried Boettcher
CATALOGUE NO: 30371 00162 ADD
These are two of the six piano concertos Mozart produced during his annus mirabilis – 1784. Brendel’s playing is predictably polished and assured, though his Philips Duo account of K459, with the Academy of St Martin under Marriner, has more authority and a closer rapport between soloist and orchestra. The main criticism of this disc is that it sounds as if it was recorded in a cave. There’s a hollowness in the woodwind, a general lack of body and an echo which is particularly irritating at the ends of movements. Not at all the right acoustic for Mozart. Wadham Sutton
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 17 in G, K453; Piano Concerto No. 19 in F, K459
These are two of the six piano concertos Mozart produced during his annus mirabilis – 1784. Brendel’s playing is predictably polished and assured, though his Philips Duo account of K459, with the Academy of St Martin under Marriner, has more authority and a closer rapport between soloist and orchestra. The main criticism of this disc is that it sounds as if it was recorded in a cave. There’s a hollowness in the woodwind, a general lack of body and an echo which is particularly irritating at the ends of movements. Not at all the right acoustic for Mozart. Wadham Sutton
Our rating
4
Published: January 20, 2012 at 3:07 pm