Following explorations of Beethoven and his contemporaries and duo piano music by Debussy (with Alexander Melnikov – Harmonia Mundi, 8/18), Olga Pashchenko turns to the 18th century and a pair of concertos by Mozart both composed for female virtuosos. The pithy booklet note clarifies the identities of ‘Jeunehomme’, now known to be a certain Mme Jenamy, and Barbara Ployer.

Pianists both women might have been but Pashchenko identifies and homes in unerringly on the operatic inspiration that lies behind so much of Mozart’s music. Slow movements especially emerge as vocalises or cantilenas, Pashchenko phrasing like a singer caught in the act of improvisation. She uses a pair of fortepiano copies by the peerless Paul McNulty: a shimmering Stein, 1788-vintage, for K271 and a more vigorous Walter based on an instrument from the early 1790s for K453. She exploits all each piano has to offer, too, especially the Walter in the Andante of the G major Concerto, drawing a remarkable panoply of shadings and pedallings from the instrument.

Pashchenko doesn’t take the score for granted, either. As well as ornamenting abundantly, she indulges in a free approach to pulse, which may not be to all tastes. Pulling up at a stretch of quaver or semiquaver passagework before embarking tentatively and then speeding up is charming once, cheeky twice but tiresome the third time. And when desynchronisation of hands gets predictable, it’s time to think of something else to do. Others may warm more readily to this hyperactive approach to Mozart but there are even moments – in the Presto coda of K453, for instance, where the high-wire act threatens to topple the ensemble.

Talking of which, Il Gardellino sound fantastic, especially the woodwinds, which is perhaps not surprising for a group founded by flautist Jan De Winne and oboist Marcel Ponseele. The horns, too, bray magnificently. But, simply, the focus is pulled too often away from Mozart’s magnificent music and instead on to the antics of the soloist, which is a shame.