All four sonatas on Uchida's new disc come from the 1774–5 set of six which were the first the 18-year-old Mozart ever wrote down with a view to publication: for the next few years he played them wherever he went without adding to their number. As three of the four find a place on Schiff's new CD transfers too, I naturally turned to these three works first, in close movement-by-movement comparison. Both young artists are entirely winning in their different ways, and were they up against each other in an international Mozart competition, I simply wouldn't know to whom to award the prize. Listening to the fanciful, light-fingered, sparkling Schiff I felt that perhaps the teenage Mozart might have played in this same wholly spontaneous way, finding new points of delight in hidden places in every different performance. Uchida, sturdier in touch—and certainly sturdier in rhythm—characterizes the music more authoritatively, as if after long thought her mind is now finally made up. Their sound-worlds are different too. Schiff's Decca reproduction is less close, less ripe, more limpid and crystalline. Uchida emerges fuller and warmer, suggesting a rather more resonant Philips studio as well as leaving no doubt that her instrument is a modern concert grand.
So much for generalizations. Now for some detail. In the F major Sonata, K280, the biggest difference of approach comes in the slow movement. Taking two minutes longer than Schiff out of respect for its adagio marking, Uchida is perhaps too slow and serious in the context of so light-hearted a youthful work. From Schiff it emerges just as expressive in what might be termed leisurely Siciliano rhythm. It also brings evidence of Schiff's liking for more elaborate ornamentation than Uchida in repeats. The E flat Sonata K282, opens with a slow movement. Here, I prefer Uchida's simpler, nobler approach, resulting primarily from a firmer rhythmic backbone. Aiming at espressivo Schiff's too flexible, and his repeat of the second section (I think wisely omitted by Uchida) brings decoration sometimes over-ornate. In the central Minuets Schiff is the greater charmer, Uchida the more firm and forthright. The G major Sonata, K283, typifies Schiff's fleeter and often more playful way with faster flanking movements. His finale sounds considerably shorter than Uchida's though it in fact takes nine seconds longer. The B flat Sonata, K281 is not played here by Schiff. Listening to Uchida alone in this work confirmed my admiration for her classical purity of style as exemplified in her refusal to sentimentalize its slow movement (unusually marked Andante amoroso) and the very positive characterization achieved in the concluding Rondeau (singled out by Einstein as being a good ten years maturer than its date) just by strict observance of Mozart's own contrasts of dynamics and touch.
Space precludes detailed comment on Schiff's remaining five sonatas originally reviewed by RG in 1981. Just once or twice in later works I wondered if his fingers were a shade too nimble (as in the opening movement of the B flat Sonata, K570) and once or twice I also questioned his rubato in slow movements (like the Adagio of the F major Sonata, K332). But the freshness of his playing is as welcome as the spring, and the CD captures it no less than the praised original recording.'