Search - Mozart, Han, Philharmonia Orchestra :: Piano Concertos (Box)

An extraordinary Mozart bargain

Ralph Moore | Bishop's Stortford, UK | 08/28/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I make absolutely no claims to expertise when it comes to judging Mozartian pianism, but I have been listening to classical music for over 35 years and my ears tell me to disregard the natural scepticism which would urge me to assume that anything this cheap must also be nasty. We have here 11 CD's containing Mozart's 25 extant piano concertos, plus, on the first disc, three charming early concertos on harpsichord and three transcriptions of solo clavecin sonatas of Johann Christian Bach's Opus 5, and a final disc of the concertos for 2 and 3 pianos, and two rondos as a final bonus. The artists are by no means second-rate nobodies: Derek Han's pianism is fleet, fluent, witty and sensitive, but also powerful and soulful when required. I am sure piano aficionados will cavil but to me he is flawless and provides performances I can live with, to the extent that I have given away a good few individual CD's of the concertos, retaining only a few classics by the likes of Gilels and Casadesus with Szell. Paul Freeman and the Philharmonia provide clean, dynamic accompaniment. Otherwise, we have such distinguished performers as Zoltan Kocsis and Andras Schiff on disc 11 and some clearly very accomplished baroque artists on disc 1.



The programme is not arranged chronologically but to provide aesthetically satisfying and balanced concert discs; thus, to take the most obvious example, on dics 4, Piano Concerto no. 1 is sandwiched between the "Elvira Madigan" and no.25. The effect of this is to distribute moods and levels of accomplishment more evenly, diluting the sombre genius of the later concertos with the brilliance of the middle period works and the charm of the earliest pieces.



One quibble is that there is a marked change of recorded sound ambience between venues: discs 2 to 5 were recorded with the same artists as the remaining concertos but in the more spacious, open acoustic of St Augustine Church, whereas the rest were taped in the warmer, more detailed sound afforded by the Henry Wood Hall - but both are perfectly pleasant to listen to and we are free of that booming effect which derives from sticking a micropohone virtually under the piano hood. The final disc suffers from slightly muddy licensed Hungaroton sound but again, this does not spoil my enjoyment.



This box set is the latest incarnation of recordings which have previously appeared in various forms, most controversially as hybrid SACD's. Here, we revert to standard format; it is beautifully put together with full, informative, accurate notes and sturdy production values. I thoroughly recommend it to all but those who are congenitally averse or too rich to contemplate buying anything that looks too good to be true. Obviously, there are famous individual performances by celebrated pianists which exceed these in individuality, artistry and perhaps skill, but after the Joyce Hatto scandal I think it behoves us all to be a little cautious before we make gnomic pronouncements about the evident and inevitable superiority of the "Big Names". This set will do me nicely. It is available at absurdly low prices on Amazon Marketplace and as such, allows you to add it to your favourite versions without any qualms over expense - or simply to buy it as your only set of these wonderful works."