Since Diana Ambache's CD arrived some time before Perahia's of K456 I shall say what I thought about her's first, even though slightly modified after hearing Perahia (coupled differently). She is to be congratulated first on at least one aspect of what I take to be her recording debut with her own orchestral ensemble, the choice of two fine but relatively neglected Mozart concertos. There are only three LP recordings of either to be found in the Gramophone Classical Catalogue; of K449 by Serkin, Perahia and Brendel (the Bilson recording is in a different category, since he plays a fortepiano with an accompaniment of baroque orchestral instruments, the second in a planned series by Archiv Produktion) and of K456 by Perahia, Brendel and Michel Dalberto. Yet these two concertos were both composed in that remarkable year, 1784, when Mozart wrote no less than six concertos, all of which struck out into new fields.
You might also say that Diana Ambache was rash to plunge in amongst players so internationally distinguished; but in the event she fares very well and if she has not the variety of colour of a Perahia and is more often inclined to play forcefully, that is not necessarily to her discredit, for Mozart needs both kinds of playing. Yet either she plays much too loudly and without varying the colour, so that the ear gets a little weary of the sound; or she is too closely recorded. Anyway, I found I was often hearing too little of her ensemble, good as it is (though the ECO play with considerably greater character). In K456, for example, one should surely hear more of the orchestra in the slow movement variation where it has the tune and the piano is merely accompanying—beautiful accompaniment, no doubt, but it remains decoration. Perahia is considerably more subtle here (as SS nicely put it, ''Perahia's forte as a Mozart interpreter lies in his piano''): however, in both concertos the first movement is stronger from Ambache. But—an indicative point about the accompaniment—does the horn play the high F after bar 50 in K456? From the ECO it rings out loud and clear. It is this sort of touch that gives distinction to a performance. Throughout both concertos, indeed, more is made of the horns' simple but characteristic writing. I was, in brief, more conscious of them in these scores.
The Perahia CD has more clarity, a better focus, in both concertos and I wondered if the Meridian recording venue—Rosslyn Hill Chapel, Hampstead—may have proved unhelpful.'