I think the orchestral opening to the Allegro moderato of the first of these two D major Concertos reflects an approach to those youthful Mozart works that is characteristic of the conductor, Raymond Leppard; it is bright and bouncy, yet although there is no holding back we do not feel that the music is being forced along; and although Cho-Liang Lin's entry keeps us in the same rhythmical world, the warmth and richness of his tone give the energy a little added softness. So far so good; but while at first this Mozart style seems acceptable on its own brisk terms, it does all become wearing, and fairly quickly at that. For example, the cadenza to this movement—written, like all the others played on this CD, by Raymond Leppard—strikes me as brashly over-forceful (so does the corresponding one in K271a), and in the Andante that follows I do wish Leppard would just allow the music to relax into something more restful. But Lin must be held responsible too: all too often he plays with exactly the same kind of forte attack, even where force seems uncalled for. The high dynamic level of the recording also contributes to one's increasing wish for more gentleness, and though of course this can be tamed by use of the volume control, the result remains pushy. At whatever setting one chooses the dynamic range is limited and the reverberant location of St Barnabas Church in London gives the sound an inappropriate obesity.
The other concerto is similar in style and the Rondo in C major, although played with rather more light and shade and rhythmic flexibility, remains on the heavy side for a piece marked Allegretto grazioso. Altogether, these are efficient performances that may attract you if you like your Mozart music for violin and orchestra to sound big, and more spirited than soulful; but my own feeling is that here the proportion of spirit is excessive, and following one D major Concerto with another in the same key contributes to my sense of indigestion.
Not surprisingly, Anne-Sophie Mutter and Muti (EMI) take a more refined view of K211, not least in its slow movement, and the violin is nicely balanced with the orchestra; but their sound is also on the big side. For DG, Perlman and Levine also offer more charm and a wider palette of colour than Lin and Leppard, but the orchestral string sound is a little raw. In this concerto I like Jean-Jacques Kantorow (Denon) best of all, for playing that has both finesse and freshness together with a natural balance and fine overall sound-quality, though Kantorow's cadenza to the first movement is maybe a trifle too 'projected' compared to the rest.'