Cellos and basses laying the foundation for the first movement of K595 don’t only articulate the harmony. In this performance their repeated notes are also contoured, forming a throbbing undercurrent over which the rest of the orchestra swells out, the wind realistically deployed against the strings, violins separated. Roger Norrington conducts perspicaciously, eschewing throughout the didacticism and emotional disengagement that has so often blocked his inner vision. Sebastian Knauer complements, never circumscribed but never violating artistic integrity either. If the slow movement is on the fast side for Larghetto, the atmosphere is nevertheless sympathetic, the solo melodic line free of extravagant embellishment.

No gainsaying the weight of authority here; or in Beethoven’s Op 19, where both musicians discern its magnitude, Norrington with a larger orchestra giving full value to the varied articulation demanded, thrust and parry nicely contrasted. The Adagio is touching; and though Knauer delivers the ‘anti-cadenza’ (Antony Hopkins) at the end con gran espressione, the challenge of also observing Beethoven’s pedalling is ignored. Intelligent engineering is an asset; sound and balance are credible and the piano isn’t zoomed in on for the cadenzas – or for Haydn’s sonata, distinct in mood and feeling. But Knauer softens opposing forces, curbing an impulsive individuality that illuminated the concertos, perhaps reflecting his curious belief that ‘Mozart was much more emotional than Haydn’. Others such as Alfred Brendel, András Schiff and Andreas Staier, each in his own way, fortunately relate a very different story. Still, Knauer does Mozart proud. Beethoven too.