This is an attractive addition to Mitsuko Uchida's Mozart concerto series with Jeffrey Tate and the English Chamber Orchestra. The Jeunehomme Concerto, which comes first on the disc, was paradoxically (in view of its name) written for a woman pianist, Mademoiselle Jeunehomme herself, who was French and evidently no mean musician, if we are to judge from the invention of the music Mozart wrote with her playing in mind. The most striking originality comes at the very start, where the soloist enters straight away instead of waiting for the customary orchestral exposition. Uchida and her fellow instrumentalists are perfectly integrated from this moment onwards, and their account of the initial Allegro has an unforced vigour which I find very pleasing: both tonally and rhythmically there is plenty of momentum and yet nothing is overstressed. The tonal balance is also satisfying, thanks not only to the musicians but also to the recording engineers working in the favourable acoustic of St John's, Smith Square in London. The piano sound is also strikingly fine, not least for its subtlety, reflecting the soloist's ultra-sensitive touch.
I have more than once criticized Uchida's tendency to prettify Mozart, but there is little of it here, save in the brief first-movement cadenza which simpers a little: in any case, the remarkably melancholy yet dignified Andantino in C minor hardly encourages it and the finale, with its curiously interpolated minuet, clearly calls out for the geniality and high spirits which are evident in this performance.
The feminine (but hardly feminist) theme of this disc is continued by the C major Concerto, which was written for Countess Antonia Lutzow. This is a more conventional work, but only by Mozart's standards, for it has plenty of fine material to offer and even here the minuet-finale is an unusual feature. As Erik Smith nicely puts it in his booklet-note, ''there is enough brilliance to dazzle, but not too much for the fingers of a countess''. Certainly not too much for those of her strikingly gifted Japanese successor, who brings to this spacious work the right proportions of freshness and subtlety.'