Mozart Piano Concerto 21

The performance of the Impromptus, D.899, heard here, confirms Curzon’s place as one of the great Schubert players of his generation. Indeed, the audience was so impressed that they couldn’t help applauding between each Impromptu. Not only does Curzon manage to play with a range of emotion, from limpid tenderness to controlled aggression, but his attention to the sound he produces from the piano never fails to impress.

Murray Perahia's piano playing, like the great Mozart himself, will never go out of style. (Murray's unfortunate hairstyle on the cover, however, is an entirely different matter!) This is because Perahia's refreshingly direct, straightforward style will always be fashionable. Let the others bang away, speed up the tempo or add all their esoteric flourishes, I'll take Perahia's simplicity any day. On this early digital recording from 1983, the pianist again shines on Mozart's second-to-last Piano Concerto, the 26th, nicknamed the "Coronation" since it was written in honor of King Leopold II's momentous event.

No, not another Mozart piano concerto disc! No indeed, for this pioneering recording gives us intimate, almost domestic versions of three of the composer’s masterpieces, versions that have scarcely been played, let alone set to disc, in the modern concert era. Moreover they give us the opportunity to hear Susan Tomes show her mettle in strong light as concerto soloist—and bring to a wider repertoire the distinct communicative magic that has made her one of the foremost chamber pianists of today.

Under the direction of the principal conductor and artistic director of the Salzburg Mozart Week, Mark Minkowski, the Musiciens du Louvre perform on two of Mozart’s original instruments. Mozart’s Violin Concerto and his Piano Concerto in A major are played on instruments that were once in the composer’s possession. Thibault Noally plays the Violin Concerto on a violin from the workshop of Pietro Antonio Dalla Costa and “conjures up Romantic brilliance from the well maintained instrument”, then Francesco Corti brings Mozart’s fortepiano to life again, thereby spreading “collective Mozart happiness all round” (Salzburger Nachrichten).

One hates to admit it, but at this point in his career, pianist Maurizio Pollini is no longer a Mozart player. Although a supreme virtuoso, a passionate intellectual, and a consummate artist, Pollini has grown too brilliant, too intense, and too calculating for Mozart. Pollini's tone is crystalline, his textures are transparent and his tempos are perfect in this breathtaking 2005 recording of the G major and C major piano concertos, but it all seems too cold and too objective. Although he is also directing the Wiener Philharmoniker from the piano, this doesn't seem to encumber Pollini's virtuosity in any way; indeed, he appears to enjoy the challenge, audibly coaxing more force from the musicians' playing.

Before talking to Fazil Say about these performances, I’m not sure that I would have used the word “operatic” to describe them—but from the beginning, I was struck by their conversational quality, by the superbly characterized playing of the solo winds and by the exceptional chamber-music rapport of pianist and orchestra as they toss material back and forth. And while I might not have thought of the word “smiling,” I certainly noticed the high level of wit, both in the playing itself and in the slightly anachronistic cadenza that Say offers for K 467.

Momo Kodama (whose acclaimed album, Point and Line, contrasted Toshio Hosakawa and Claude Debussy) presents the piano concerto which Hosakawa wrote for her, the shimmering "Lotus Under the Moonlight." Composed in 2006, "Lotus" is also an homage to Mozart, with distant echoes of his Concerto No.23 in A Major, the work with which it is paired here in a concert recording from Japan with Maestro Seiji Ozawa and his Mito Chamber Orchestra.

Since his international debut as an astonishing child prodigy in the early 1980s, Evgeny Kissin has matured into one of the finest piano virtuosos of the age. His phenomenal keyboard technique and impeccable artistry continue to astound and amaze audiences and critics alike, leading The Washington Post to call Kissin "one of the world's greatest artists".
Kissin continues his fruitful relationship with EMI Classics with this new recording of two of Mozart's most famous piano concerti: Nos.20 in D minor and 27 in B-flat Major.

The perfect inner assonance emerged between Muti and Richter many years ago was even more touchingly confirmed during these concerts: the great Russian pianist imprinted on the pages of Mozart’s masterpiece all their sorrowful candor, all the gleam of a lyricism of unrivaled fantastic richness.

Clifford Curzon was among the finest English pianists of the twentieth century, known for his clear, ego-less performances of the German Classical and Romantic masterpieces. A quiet intellectual who nevertheless possessed a formidable technique, Curzon played everything from Mozart to Liszt with equal authority. His fans often cite this ability to emphasize the personality of each composer, rather than his own, as his most distinctive quality. Curzon recorded for the Decca label for over 30 years, leaving behind a modestly sized, but musically impressive catalog. His recordings of Mozart and Schubert are considered his best.