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Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Concertos Nos. 12 & 17 (Alfred Brendel)


Information

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  1. Piano Concerto No. 12 in A major, K. 414: 1. Allegro
  2. Piano Concerto No. 12 in A major, K. 414: 2. Andante
  3. Piano Concerto No. 12 in A major, K. 414: 3. Rondeau (Allegretto)
  4. Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, K. 453: 1. Allegro
  5. Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, K. 453: 2. Andante
  6. Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, K. 453: 3. Allegretto - Finale: Presto

Alfred Brendel, piano
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Charles Mackerras, conductor

Date: 2005
Label: Philips
http://www.deccaclassics.com/us/cat/4756930


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Review

The fourth in a sequence of Mozart concerto recordings from this combination, and mooted to be the last. If this really marks the end of the line it would be an enormous pity. Although Mozart piano concerto recordings are hardly in short supply – and Alfred Brendel has recorded these works before, of course – these new versions are altogether special: not only because they document what must surely be the full flowering of Brendel's thoughts on this evergreen music, but because of his partnership with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Sir Charles Mackerras, which is arguably the world's leading Mozartian combination.

It is sometimes said that Mozart's piano concertos are operas in miniature. Mackerras and the SCO have recorded a particularly fine series of Mozart operas over the last decade and they bring to these concertos a very operatic pathos – the orchestral introduction to the G major’s Andante has all the plangency and ardour of “Porgi amor”. Seldom too has there been a clearer illustration of the benefit of having a real conductor in this repertoire. There have been fine recordings directed from the keyboard – Anda, Barenboim and Perahia easily spring to mind – but what added potency there is when two great Mozartians, clearly of like mind, join forces.

Despite its affable nature, the 'little' A major concerto (K414) can seem bland in some hands. Under Mackerras though its orchestral introduction is deliciously airborne, an object lesson in how to pace and characterise and with close attention given to dynamics and inner parts. When Brendel enters there is the rare sense of give and take, of chamber music, in the interplay between pianist and orchestra. In the Handelian slow movement, with its echo of the "straight places plain", Brendel times his first entry perfectly, holding back for just a fraction of a second; to a remarkable degree this movement becomes a perfectly poised operatic duet for piano and orchestra; and deeply poignant, too. The good-natured finale, taken quite swiftly, chuckles infectiously, with Brendel and Mackerras finding a degree of detail that simply eludes most other performers. I know of no more complete exploration of this concerto on record.

All the same virtues are replicated in the altogether grander and richer sounds of the G major work, which is one of Mozart's first concertos to fully exploit the concertante potential of wind instruments. Without ever overstepping the bounds of style, pianist and conductor bring a remarkable freedom and certainty of touch to this concerto, strong and intense where appropriate, full of gravitas in the slow movement and with a Papageno-like sense of fun in the cunningly paced finale, which is a tad slower than usual … that is until the presto final bars, which are despatched with a combination of wit, elan and wisdom that is quintessential Brendel.

The recording quality is exemplary.

-- Douglas Cooksey, Classical Source

More reviews:
http://www.amazon.com/Piano-Concertos-K414-Alfred-Brendel/dp/B000BI0PEM

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 in Salzburg – 5 December 1791 in Vienna) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. Till his death in Vienna, he composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, operatic, and choral music. Mozart is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers, and his influence is profound on subsequent Western art music.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Amadeus_Mozart

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Alfred Brendel (born 5 January 1931 in Wiesenberg, Czechoslovakia) is an Austrian pianist, poet and author, particularly for his performances of Mozart, Schubert, Schoenberg, and especially Beethoven. Brendel never had much formal piano training and was largely self-taught. He gave his first public recital at the age of 17, made his first recording at 21, then went on to make a string of other records, including three complete sets of the Beethoven piano sonatas, and was the first performer to record the complete solo piano works of Beethoven. Brendel gave his final concert on 20 February 2008 at Carnegie Hall, New York.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Brendel

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