Collectors already following these artists' on-going series of the Mozart piano concertos will no doubt take this new disc on trust without awaiting a recommendation from me. They will not be mistaken, for here are the same good qualities that I and others have noted in the earlier performances recorded in Austria with this orchestra and sometimes, as at present, in Millstatt Church. I do have a reservation about the orchestral sound, which seems tubby for this kind of music—the orchestral exposition to the C major Concerto provides an immediate case in point. The piano, a Bosendorfer, also comes over more full-bodiedly than one may choose if one feels, as I'm inclined to, that while a modern instrument is acceptable, the soloist should make a token gesture towards the crispness of fortepiano sonority. This Andras Schiff does not do, and to enjoy his playing it is best to forget that one has ever heard an instrument more akin to that for which Mozart wrote.
That apart, I have only praise. Carefully phrased, alive yet unforced, and affectionate without cheapness, these are excellent performances. The C major Concerto is a youthful work with the tonic key rather too much in evidence, but it makes for pleasing enough listening and ends unconventionally with a mildly pompous minuet. Oddly enough, the finale of the F major Concerto is also a Tempo di menuetto, and as its movement is in triple time as well, this disc has much of that metre. However, the seductively shapely Andante is quite different and, in any case, with these artists we need not fear monotony. The Rondo is A is an enjoyable fill-up.'