These two CDs, released a year apart, are the first
in a projected complete cycle of Mozart's piano concertos on historical
instruments, and they are revelatory. Dutch period specialist Arthur
Schoonderwoerd plays a fabulously responsive reproduction 1782 Anton
Walter 5-octave fortepiano - one that Mozart is known to have owned
- whilst directing a very trim ensemble consisting of pairs of violins,
violas, oboes, horns, trumpets and bassoons, plus one flute, timpanist
and cello and double bass. By comparison, Maria João Pires's
very ordinary recording for Deutsche Grammophon (4790075) of K.466 and
K.595 with the so-called Orchestra Mozart under Claudio Abbado comprised
no fewer than 24 violins, 10 violas, 4 flutes, oboes, bassoons, five
horns and 24 other musicians!
According to the blurb, the musicians of Cristofori under Schoonderwoerd
have set themselves "the goal of liberating Mozart's works from the
sound concepts of the 19th and 20th centuries", and hearing these chamber-like
textures is in some respects like doing so for the first time. Which
is not to say these are anaemic accounts by any stretch: Schoonderwoerd
somehow conjures up quite a hefty orchestral sound from reduced resources
- and not just courtesy of the timpani. If this is what audiences actually
experienced when they went to a Mozart concert in the 1780s, even those
at the back would have been impressed. Mozart of course was by this
time a master orchestrator, and the quieter sound of the fortepiano
was carefully balanced against the ensemble, colouring in during tutti
passages whilst the many keyboard cadenzas are accompanied by appropriately
reduced forces.
In any case, the stunning design of these four concertos can be appreciated
as never before. True, those with more carnivorous tastes will not feel
sated, but for some of those who appreciate what Schoonderwoerd is trying
to do for Mozart, there may be no going back - this is what Mozart's
piano concertos should
always sound like. What a pleasure it
is, for example, to hear the slow movement of the C major concerto freed
from the clichés of 20th-century pianism, or the first movement
of the D minor work communicate
musical Sturm
und
Drang rather than the confected melodrama of many a modern performance.
Intriguing too to hear the reconstructed timpani and (F!) trumpet parts
of the F major concerto. Schola Cantorum Basiliensis's Philip Tarr gives
a convincing justification for this, their first and ostensibly controversial
use.
Sound quality is also top quality. Schoonderwoerd's booklet notes, under
the general theme of 'Mozart revisited', are an informative beacon of
intelligent clarity. In sum, this is a double
coup de maître
for him, Cristofori and Accent - one of the finest recordings of 2012
and 2013. Mission accomplished: Mozart has been liberated. Long
live Mozart!
Byzantion
Collected reviews and contact at artmusicreviews.co.uk
Masterwork Index: Mozart piano concertos
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& 19 ~~
20
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