As the heading tells us, this is a reissue of Daniel Barenboim's account of the Mozart piano sonatas. The variations are new, having been recorded in March 1991, but I will deal with the sonatas first. I see that in his review six years ago Michael Oliver expressed a preference, in an ideal world, for hearing these works ''played on an instrument resembling as closely as possible the delicately incisive, no doubt fragile but subtly responsive pianos for which Mozart wrote them''. But he then went on to say that no such world should exclude Brendel, Perahia, Uchida, Schiff and other pianists such as Barenboim himself, who choose to play this music on modern concert grands; and as a matter of fact, there is precious little delicacy and fragility about the sound of those fortepianos (and fortepianists) who have since earned a place in the catalogue. But is Barenboim too forceful with this music? MEO commented ruefully on his ''staccato manner'' and ''surprisingly narrow dynamic range'', finding some of the playing ''finicky, even mannered... with a sort of dapper brittleness''. He also noted that a close and edgy recording did not help to make the playing more ingratiating.
I wonder whether my listening acoustic is a bit kinder than his to the sound, which I found pretty faithful: at any rate, playing these discs at a lower level than I normally set, I do not find it too hard. But Barenboim's way with the music is a different matter, and all too often unyielding—listen, for example, to the tonal attack at the start of the Andante in the F major Sonata, K280, a siciliano-type movement which most pianists take gently and persuasively. The playful, scherzo-like finale of the same work is more than a touch aggressive as played here, with powerful sforzandos on too many up-beat third quavers of this movement in 3/8 time—and if the forte tone has some metal to it, that is, I'm sure, the pianist and not the recording (though that occasionally picks up slight background noise). The playing sounds to me more impatient than joyful; ditto the first movement of the next sonata, in B flat major (K281), where much of the Andante amoroso slow movement suggests that romance is being taken by the scruff of the neck and given a shaking. And I can hear nothing of a graceful dance in the minuet of K282, which is so forcefully played as to give positive discomfort.
I could go on: suffice it to say that a vigorous approach is the rule here and gentler moments are the exception; yet they do exist, as in the main theme of the rondo-finale of K309 and the Andantes of K311 and K330, as well as the A major Sonata, K331. The graceful sonatas in B flat major, K333 and F major, K533/494 have some flexibility, too. But frankly, my enjoyment of this set as a whole is no greater than MEO's, although I recognize that some collectors may like this no-nonsense approach to the Mozart piano sonatas. It's odd, because I have sometimes thought Barenboim inclined to beautify Mozart (I am thinking of the concertos). Not here, though. Predictably, his style is best suited to the dramatic minor-key sonatas in A minor and C minor (there's fine playing here) and perhaps the last of all, in D major (K576), but they are a minority among the 18 sonatas and the C minor Fantasia—as, consequently, are the really satisfying performances in this five-disc set.
Playing some six years later in the variations, Barenboim seems to have mellowed in his approach to Mozart's piano writing to some extent. That is just as well, for the recording in a Munich location, is even closer than that for the sonatas, and rather too close for my liking—it is as if one were sitting just a few feet from the piano. Still, the playing is of a technical quality to stand such scrutiny. I'm not so sure that all the music does: Mozart's sets of variations, normally staying in the same key as the theme, are sometimes conventional, although he can often produce something of real invention and charm just as one is losing interest. There is nothing on the first or second disc that I'd care to play frequently, though the set on a melody by Salieri (K180) reminds us usefully of that much-maligned composer. Each variation has a separate track, useful for students, which makes for a total of 158 tracks on the three discs. The best music by far (such as the Duport Variations, K573) is on the third of them. Although the playing is distinguished and committed-sounding. I can't help wondering as to the wisdom of making such complete recordings as this: unlike Everest, music does not have to be done just because it is there.'