I got to know all these concertos in performances on pianos when I was at school, and I thought they were marvellous. I'm almost ashamed to admit that in these musicological times piano versions can still sound marvellous to me and this record gave me a lot of pleasure.
The players, none of them I think harpsichordists, recorded the music because they wanted to, and you can't argue with that. Helmut Schmidt, who has recorded Mozart with Eschenbach on a previous occasion, might be described as Germany's answer to our Edward Heath, unless it's the other way round. Whether he too has aspirations as a conductor I do not know, but he is a pleasingly able pianist, and if because of him the tempos in the outside movements of the A minor are rather cautious the music stands up to them well enough, and I'm inclined to think our harpsichordists take these movements too fast.
The triple concerto in D minor goes well, as do the outside movements of the C major; the fugue is driven along with an irresistible energy. The slow movement sounds rather characterless, but I liked the very soft ending, and of course if you play these concertos on pianos the dynamics are up to you, which encourages your powers of invention. The first movement of the C minor is rather ponderous, with the beats over-emphasized and the tempo rather slow, but again the finale is splendidly alive, Recording quality is first rate on both CD and LP versions.'