Mozart :Piano Concertos K466 & 595 - Pires/Abbado and Orchestra Mozart

[John Shelton]

These Paul Badura-Skoda discs are brimful of insight (IMO) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mozart-Piano...3430345&sr=1-3

and on a period piano http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Arcana/A351

and unlike Uchida he understands that vivacity is a part of Moart's makeup. And cheek. And dare.

(Pires I do like. Brüggen tried to persuade her to play the fortepiano, but no luck, though they have contributed together).

[Nick Armstrong]

Just taken delivery of the new Uchida .

K271 - which is my favourite of all his concertos is superbly played but I cannot help but feel it is a rather middle -aged performance not one of a Jeunehomme or fille for that matter . The first movement is too slow for me , the opening though gracefully played lacks joie de vivre and the originality of that opening is not very striking as I feel it ought to seem . The slow movement is very fine but not as moving as Schiff/Vegh - the finale goes best and the Presto has what is missing a bit from the earlier movements .

Just going on to listen to K467 .

Am awaiting your reaction with keen interest. I listened to it at the end of CD Review and then again last night. I find it unaccountably annoying. I'm very puzzled why - to my ears - Uchida doesn't 'get' Mozart's piano concertos (when she is marvellous in the sonatas). That old set with Jeffrey Tate was all wrong somehow.

[Barbirollians]

I think the K467 is quite vivacious Hey N . The K271 does lack that element a tad though .

I did prefer the K467 - quite a traditional performance but a very fine and enjoyable one.

What did you find annoying about it Caliban - I see you say " unaccountably " ? Anything you can put your finger on . It is rather weighty and a bit Beethovenian on first hearing .

I had one or two of her earlier cycle but did prefer Perahia at just about every turn .

I should love to hear Pires and Abbado in K271 .

[Nick Armstrong]

I think the K467 is quite vivacious Hey N . The K271 does lack that element a tad though .

I did prefer the K467 - quite a traditional performance but a very fine and enjoyable one.

Cross-posted!

[Barbirollians]

Cross-posted!

I edited my post to respond to yours .

Can you say what you found annoying ?

[Nick Armstrong]

I edited my post to respond to yours .

Can you say what you found annoying ?

Ah... thanks for referring me back. For the moment, not sure. I'll give it further hearings (it's recorded to the digital card in the DAB radio at home). My recollection is that it sounded too 'clangorous' - that's the word that springs to mind - not enough delicacy and air around the playing. Maybe she was having to give it some elbow-grease in the Cleveland Severance Hall with that orchesta...

[HighlandDougie]

Oh no! My interest in Mozart Piano Concertos having been rekindled by a systematic listening to the Geza Anda cycle - and the pretty sublime Pires, I have 20 minutes ago just collected the Uchida from an Amazon locker in London. I'll now have try and listen with an open mind and pretend that I haven't read Calibam's posts

[Nick Armstrong]

Oh no! My interest in Mozart Piano Concertos having been rekindled by a systematic listening to the Geza Anda cycle - and the pretty sublime Pires, I have 20 minutes ago just collected the Uchida from an Amazon locker in London. I'll now have try and listen with an open mind and pretend that I haven't read Calibam's posts

Sorry!!

Just had another quick listen to the first movement. It's not all bad news. But there is one specific thing I now recall I don't like at all.

I'll save it for after you've had a wee listen, Dougie

[Barbirollians]

Sorry!!

Just had another quick listen to the first movement. It's not all bad news. But there is one specific thing I now recall I don't like at all.

I'll save it for after you've had a wee listen, Dougie

I know what you mean ! I was looking for a word like heavyweight but that is not an apt description of the whole performance but it is what i meant by Beethovenian - the piano tone she elicits is more suitable for Beethoven even if the style and accompaniment is on a Mozartian scale .

[Thropplenoggin]

I know what you mean ! I was looking for a word like heavyweight but that is not an apt description of the whole performance but it is what i meant by Beethovenian - the piano tone she elicits is more suitable for Beethoven even if the style and accompaniment is on a Mozartian scale .

Uchida is an exceptional player of Schubert but I find her Mozart 'mannered', overly fussy.

[Barbirollians]

Uchida is an exceptional player of Schubert but I find her Mozart 'mannered', overly fussy.

I wouldn't say that this was mannered or fussy . I have just listened to it again and though I still think the K271 is middle aged and the first movement too slow I am warming to K467 - the slow movement in particular is no Elvira Madigan sloshy glide over the notes . It is a really fresh interpretation and the orchestral contribution is very telling .

[Nick Armstrong]

I wouldn't say that this was mannered or fussy . I have just listened to it again and though I still think the K271 is middle aged and the first movement too slow I am warming to K467 - the slow movement in particular is no Elvira Madigan sloshy glide over the notes . It is a really fresh interpretation and the orchestral contribution is very telling .

To repeat a comment I just made re: the Mozart BAL and Uchida, the bit I really hate in that K467 performance is the ugly banged out bass one hears near the end of the first movement. There are other ugly accented notes and forte passages too. Directing and projecting over an orchestra seems to destabilise her - but then I didn't like the Tate-conducted performances either (lumpy, leaden sound recording I seem to remember).

HighlandDougie has an interesting point which I hope he'll explore here about self-conducted Mozart... But it occurs to me that Perahia in his classic set, and Ch. Zacharias with his current Lausanne cycle which I'm collecting, both seem to manage fine in a dual role. Horses for courses, I suppose....

[salymap]

I don't know how you get anything else done when you have so many recordings of one work. Ihave numerous old cassette tapes, a setof Barenboim complete CDs and an old LP by Badura-Skoda with the NDRSO conducted by
Wilfried Boettcher of no 20 K 466.

I always fastforward the Romanza, [middle movement] of no 20 as I had a friend who played nothing else.

Was this a review thatI missed ?

[HighlandDougie]

Horses for courses is right - there are other pianists than Perahia and Zacharias who make a good job of playing and directing, Edwin Fischer and Geza Anda being immediate examples. So I certainly wouldn't say that Uchida-esque emphasis is a necessary outcome of the dual role. Uchida's style, though, is quite forthright so I did rather wonder if in directing a "proper" orchestra (as opposed to a chamber orchestra which might be more used to direction from the keyboard - ECO, Salzburg Mozarteum, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra etc) she felt the need to be fairly emphatic in her conducting with that characteristic then being reflected in her playing. I suspect that I'm talking nonsense but, as a generality, I think that not having to worry about what the orchestra need to be told frees the soloist to concentrate on her/his part in the proceedings. Any views from our orchestra players and soloists?

[Stunsworth]

Listening to it at the moment - streaming from Qobuz. Wonderful.