Did Mozart suffer from teenage angst? This is not, I must admit, a question that had overly vexed me until this disc arrived. It’s a relatively standard-looking programme from an artist known for his concept albums. However, even here things are not quite as they might seem. Entitled ‘Mozart In-Between’, David Greilsammer takes as his starting point the idea of the youthful Mozart ‘wrestling with himself, trembling, hesitating, shivering and vacillating between different beliefs, sentiments and ideas’. To that end, Greilsammer combines four works written between the ages of 14 and 21. And, as is his wont, he puts his stamp firmly on everything, be it through the addition of a timpani part in the 23rd Symphony – of which he directs a lithe performance – or by playing his own cadenzas in Mozart’s K271. This seems a slightly odd decision, as we have Mozart’s cadenzas for the work and what Greilsammer offers does not bear comparison. He is a fine pianist, however, and his reading as a whole abounds in imaginative phrasing and spontaneous-sounding interaction with the Geneva CO, though the more extrovert passages can sound overblown. The extraordinary slow movement is even more magical in the hands of Perahia, Goode and Andsnes but Greilsammer’s playing in the finale is suitably thrilling, with dramatic interjections from the horns.

Two movements from Mozart’s incidental music to Thamos frame a new commission by Denis Schuler (called, of course, In-Between) for string quartet and orchestra. Again we’re back to concept albums and I’m not sure the new piece adds anything to the disc any more than it gains from being in the company of the King of Egypt. Schuler writes prominently for percussion and clearly has a soft spot for glissandos, which abound. But it is played with clarity and palpable enjoyment. To end, Lawrence Zazzo lends his voice to Farnace’s glorious ‘Venga pur’ from Mitridate, bringing to it virtuoso aplomb, high drama and a strong sense of character no doubt helped by his having performed the role on stage. But it forms an oddly abrupt – and possibly intentionally disconcerting – end to the CD.