Mozart Complete Piano Concertos

Peter Serkin, whose recorded output is dwarfed by his father's in sheer size but by no means in artistic distinction, is spotlighted in a new release playing Mozart: his complete RCA recordings of the composer. When his set of Piano Concertos Nos. 14-19 was released in 1973, High Fidelity's reviewer wrote: "I have heard no other pianist who seems to follow every pulse of this Mozartean vitality quite as beautifully as Peter Serkin, and the combined efforts of Serkin fils with Alexander Schneider and the English Chamber Orchestra on this RCA set form very simply one of the most important contributions to the Mozart discography." The new box also contains Serkin's distinguished mid-1970s recordings of the Clarinet Quintet and Piano-Wind Quintet K 452 with members of his distinguished ensemble TASHI.

Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) resumes a celebrated project to record Mozart’s complete Piano Concertos, with this ninth volume released after an extraordinary 20-year wait. Together with renowned scholar-pianist Robert Levin, AAM presents Mozart’s Piano Concertos No. 21 in C Major K467, perhaps one of Mozart’s most well-known Piano Concertos and featured in films The Spy Who Loved Me and Elvira Madigan, and No. 24 in C Minor K491, described by Mozart scholar Alexander Hyatt King as ‘not only the most sublime of the whole series but also one of the greatest pianoforte concertos ever composed’.

In history, the beginning of the genre of piano or cembalo concertos is usually associated with the name of Johann Sebastian Bach, whose sons had continued the undertaking which their father had begun. Thus, for example, Mozart was influenced by C.P.E. Bach in his own, further development of the genre, the "classical" character of which would become significantly influenced by him. The source of Haydn's inspiration to write piano concertos, and knowledge of appropriate compositions by his contemporaries, cannot be determined for certain, as we do not have any reliable documentation.

Paisiello composed more than 90 operas, he was highly successful and influential in his time. Giovanni Paisiello is more than just another name in the history of classical music. He was loved by Mozart, who used Paisiello's comic opera as a model for his own operas, as can be heard in 'Le Nozze di Figaro', but also later in Rossini's 'Il barbiere di Siviglia'. His instrumental and orchestral works are less well known than his operas. He also composed far fewer of these, with 12 symphonies to his name, 12 string quartets, a set of sonatas and 8 keyboard concertos. His music is fluid, elegant and refined. His concertos are very exuberant works, with moments of great charm and beauty, especially in the slow movements.

In anticipation of Beethoven's 250th birthday in 2020, Jan LIsiecki presents a full cycle of Beethoven's five piano concertos, accompanied by the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58 has particularly played a significant role in Lisiecki's career. In 2013, he performed the work with Orchestra Mozart under Claudio Abbado in Bologna, an indisposed Martha Argerich at short notice, and he performed the same work at his Carnegie Hall debut.