MOZART Piano Concertos Nos 17 & 26

Fourth Mozart concerto disc from fortepianist Brautigam

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Mastering:

Stereo
DDD

Catalogue Number: BIS-SACD-1944

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 17 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Cologne Academy
Michael Alexander Willens, Conductor
Ronald Brautigam, Musician, Fortepiano
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 26, 'Coronation' Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Cologne Academy
Michael Alexander Willens, Conductor
Ronald Brautigam, Musician, Fortepiano
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Brautigam’s sinuous reading of K453, which makes much of Mozart’s long, lolloping lines, has elegance to spare. But he doesn’t lose sight of the more mischievous elements either. There are other orchestras with more characterful wind players (and not just period ones: Abbado’s COE, for instance, with the superlative Pires) but this approach is all of a piece with Brautigam’s delicate fortepiano – a modern copy of an Anton Walter from around 1795, which has tremendous clarity throughout its range. The soloist is placed within the aural picture rather than overly forward, increasing the sense of intimacy. The finale (a set of variations purportedly based on a theme whistled by Mozart’s pet starling) sets off more timidly than some but the interplay with the wind is always sparky, not least in the buffa-ish closing pages. But I do think there’s more impishness to be found, above all exemplified by Goode and, at an even faster tempo, Andsnes, who manages to be very fleet of foot with no loss of detail.

The 26th Concerto, K537, throws up more editorial issues than any other among the mature pieces, with a manuscript that is in places distinctly light on information. It’s more symphonic in scope than K453 and with the addition of trumpets and timpani comes an added degree of pomp. Here, though, the timpani are a tad reticent. It’s striking to compare this new version with Curzon (I make no apology for comparing period with modern), one of the finest and most probing of ‘traditional’ performances, with Kertész and the LSO delving into every phrase but never sounding overbearing or heavy. And once you’ve heard Curzon’s profound eloquence married to a quiet rhetoric, Brautigam sounds a touch two-dimensional. Uchida, too, is engaged in a dynamic conversation that still sounds fresh a quarter of a century on.

In this new set there are also moments of imprecision of ensemble, not least in the orchestral entry in the second movement of K537. Overall, certainly worth hearing for the G major but there are stronger contenders out there in the Coronation.

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