The first thing one notices about this issue is that it doesn't look as if it can be of four discs, being contained as it is in a slim lightweight box. But it does, and each is in an envelope of only semi-transparent white paper, which means that you may have to take it out to see which it is. After that, one turns to the booklet, which contains a usefully informative note in three languages.
It is a good enough idea to make a compilation of concertos, many of which are the popular ones and feature popular artists. Christian Zacharias plays with an alert sensitivity in K271, and his first-movement cadenza is stylish, while Jerzy Maksymiuk and the Polish Chamber Orchestra are sympathetic partners. Barenboim's account of the 'Elvira Madigan' Concerto is a little precious but deeply felt. The performance of the Fourth Horn Concerto with Barry Tuckwell (conjuring up memories of the Flanders and Swann ''I've lost my horn'' in the finale) is thoughtful as well as vivacious, but the 1971 sound is a bit rough-edged. One needs to make allowances for the sound too in Jack Brymer's sensitive account of the Clarinet Concerto which goes back over 30 years to the late 1950s, while (dare I say?) Sir Thomas Beecham's conducting of this music now sounds heavy and dated. Similarly, while the playing of the wonderful Sinfonia concertante by Sir Yehudi Menuhin and Rudolf Barshai with the Bath Festival Orchestra has passion and poetry, it is not special enough to make one forget that the 1962 recording, at least as digitally remastered here, is scrawny and fails to do justice to the soloists' tone.
The third of these four CDs has a luminous performance of the Flute and Harp Concerto from James Galway and Fritz Helms with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Karajan, heavyish in style and orchestral size by modern standards but still sounding well enough after 20 years, although the harp could be a little more forward. A companion work on the disc is the Double Piano Concerto in E flat major in a performance with Radu Lupu and Andre Previn, who also conducts the London Symphony Orchestra, but despite the distinction of these artists the playing is unexceptional and the thin sound is a barrier to enjoyment; however, the solo playing of Anne-Sophie Mutter in the D major Violin Concerto, K211, is sweet and stylish and the 1981 recording is a good digital one. And there is more to give pleasure on the last CD, which has the Violin Concertos, K216, K218 and K219, the soloists being respectively Frank Peter Zimmermann, Augustin Dumay (these are both also modern recordings) and David Oistrakh, recorded in 1970 but still sounding well enough and directing the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra with some style.
These four discs are at medium-price, and at an average of 74 minutes per CD they are well filled, so that they provide a convenient package of Mozart concertos, although I think that the solo piano concertos should have been represented by more than just two works, perhaps at the expense of the youthful and less interesting concertos for violin. Nevertheless, the catalogue is rich in fine performances and recordings of these works, so collectors prepared to devote a little time to serious choice will find that it is possible to acquire three or four CDs for greater satisfaction, and perhaps less financial outlay, than this set of four discs, unavailable separately, will afford them.'