Mozart New
Piano Concertos -- No. 21 in C, K. 467; No. 24 in C minor, K. 491.
Sinfonia Varsovia/Piotr Anderszewski (piano).
Virgin Classics VC5 45504-2 (full price, 1 hour). Producer Etienne Collard. Engineer Frédéric Briant. Date August 7th-9th, 2001.
Mozart Reissue
Piano Concertos -- No. 21 in C, K. 467; No. 24 in C minor, K. 491.
City of London Sinfonia/Howard Shelley (piano).
Regis RRC1067 (budget price, 59 minutes). From Pickwick PCD832. Engineer Michael Sheady. Date 1986.
Comparison:
Curzon, BRSO/Kubelik (Audite) 95 453 (1976, 1970)
Here are two fine accounts of this pairing, both directed from the keyboard by the respective pianists. Howard Shelley's highly praised coupling of 1986 is here making what appears to be its third appearance, and very welcome it is, at budget price. Piotr Anderszewski's recording was made last summer in Warsaw's Philharmonic Hall; it too offers very good performances of these magnificent works, though in some respects they might be thought to pre-date Shelley's. Anderszewski favours warmer, more romantic sonorities, and his cadenzas and leads-in are distinctly old-fashioned in style. Take the finale of the C major Concerto, for instance: a flourish is called for at bar 20, which Shelley neatly provides; Anderszewski indulges in an extended lead-in, which strikes me as inappropriate as the pianist's first entry in the movement. His cadenzas -- he has composed his own -- seem to me too wide-roving, un-Mozartian, whereas Shelley favours those of that excellent Mozart pianist, Denis Matthews. Anderszewski plays bare held chords in places where Mozart surely meant the semiquaver arpeggios to continue (for example, in the first movement of K. 491 at bars 261ff and 467ff).
But this is to be pernickety. Anderszewski's pianism is of the highest order, with numerous passages of great poise and beauty. Take the opening of the slow movement of K. 467, for instance, where he finds just the right balance between delicacy and firm pointing of the deceptively simple melody. His passagework is brilliant without being in the least showy, and his directing of the Sinfonia Varsovia is felicitous: there is lovely playing from the woodwinds, the brass and timpani are encouraged to make the most of dramatic moments, and the strings are clean and firm in tutti, suitably gentle in quiet accompanimental passages. These are committed performances, full of character.
The virtues of Howard Shelley's performances with the City of London Sinfonia are familiar: stylish, sober yet sparkling, well rounded. Seldom does either pianist feel the need to decorate Mozart's line; when Shelley does, as with the rising dotted figure at bar 43 of the second movement of K. 467, it is an imaginative touch. There is little difference in matters of tempo between the two groups. Anderszewski is more inclined than Shelley to hold back or press on, but there is nothing mechanical about the latter, who allows the music to breathe, and flow.
The Regis disc is accompanied by a brief introductory note on a folded card; there are no recording details or dates. The Virgin — which is, of course, a new and full-price issue — has a three-language note and recording details. Both discs are technically of high standard, the Virgin warmer toned as well as clear, befitting the style of the performances, with pleasing, natural balance between solo and orchestra, the Regis bringing out neatly the miraculous dialogues between piano and winds. Readers who have already fallen under the spell of the young Polish artist will need no urging to buy the Virgin disc; it will impress and give much pleasure to people hearing him for the first time. Older readers will hardly need to be reminded of Clifford Curzon's delectable accounts of these concertos, still available on the Audite label. All things considered (price being among them!), Howard Shelley's disc seems to me to deserve the warmest recommendation for its natural-sounding recording, clarity of texture and combination of depth with high spirits.
used by permission
