Mozart
Piano Concertos Nos 6 & 25
Kristian Bezuidenhout (fortepiano); Freiburger Barockorchester
Harmonia Mundi HMM 902333 68:57 mins
When Mozart settled in Vienna he went into creative overdrive, asserting both his independence of his father and his position as the finest keyboard player in town. He also became a successful impresario, greatly increasing the number of concerts featuring himself as both composer and soloist, thus reaping maximum profits. He gave subscription concerts in unconventional venues, and frequently performed in aristocratic salons. ‘I must play new works – and therefore I must compose,’ he wrote excitedly to his father. ‘The whole morning is taken up with pupils, and almost every evening I have to play.’
The first of the two concertos on this album was composed in 1776, and its designation as a ‘Concerto di Cembalo’ indicates that he saw it as a harpsichord concerto. This is borne out by liner-note writer Andreas Friesenhagen, who points out that the keyboard part in the solo passages of the first two movements has no dynamic markings at all; moreover, Mozart had not yet gravitated to the fortepiano. It is pleasing, if not on the level of his finest works from this period, and despatched gracefully.
The second concerto, composed ten years later, works on a much grander scale, although I have to agree with Friesenhagen’s view that its first movement ‘radiates a cool neutrality’, and that its Andante may not ‘fulfil most listeners’ expectations’ of its emotional impact. Nevertheless, this album – the fourth in a series from Bezuidenhout and the Freiburger Barockorchester – is brightly and engagingly played. Michael Church