Mozart: The Piano Concertos | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, John Eliot Gardiner, ...

Mozart: The Piano Concertos | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, John Eliot Gardiner, ... | Please don't judge these recordings in a car!

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Mozart: The Piano ...

	Mozart: The Piano Concertos Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, John Eliot Gardiner, ... Archiv Produktion, 2001 average customer review:based on 16 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The Magic Fortepiano

Mozart was a Mason. A child of the Enlightenment. A believer in humanity's perfectability, who had the philosophical luck to die before the disappointments of the French revolution. He wrote music of tragedy and despair, but he never wrote a note of Gothic horror, of 'Romantic' reaction against rationality, a task he left untouched, shall we say, for the next generation. If you want your Mozart to sound like the art of someone who's been reading Schopenhauer, you won't like this set of piano concertos played by Malcolm Bilsen, with John Eliot Gardiner conducting.

Bilsen plays a period keyboard fortepiano, an instrument of much lighter construction than the modern pianoforte, on which the 'decay' of note reverberation is naturally quicker, making a softer and more transparent sound. The orchestra of period instruments that Gardiner conducts is also smaller by far and more carefully tuned than the modern symphony orchestra, and emphasizes the polyphonic/heterophonic interplay of all the voices of the composition. The tempi chosen by Gardiner are often faster, more nimble, more witty than most post-Wagnerian conductors choose. The result is a Mozart who sounds as if he's passed Sarastro's "initiation" into wisdom as portrayed in the Magic Flute, rather than settling into the syphilitic gloom of 19th C Romantic pianism.

There is no absolutely historically authenticized version of Mozart, and double-absolutely no "definitive" performance of these twenty-seven concertos. I recently made the tongue-in-cheek suggestion that a performance of them on harpsichord might be revealing, since Mozart grew up in a milieu in which harpsichords were far more familiar than pianos of any sort. The touch required to play the fortepiano, Bilsen's instrument, is closer in some ways to a harpsichord touch than that developed by Liszt and Chopin. It's the touch, as much as the specific instrument, that matters for performing Mozart. Bilsen has the touch. I like his sound, a judgement by ear alone, better than that of Derek Han or Melvyn Tan, two other historical keyboard specialists. And I admire Gardiner's spunk - his musical intuition - even when occasionally his interpretations are rash.

But don't take my word for anything! Use the sample function; compare the same snippets from the same concertos on as many recordings as you have patience for. I'd suggest Concerto #20.

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Please don't judge these recordings in a car!

Currently, I own 3 sets of the Mozart Piano Concertos (two modern instrument ones - Anda & Schiff; and the Gardiner-Bilson set). I must agree w/ the reviewers who rated this HIP set 5* - my main reason for posting is to help 'counteract' the ridiculous rating of 2* given, primarily because the CDs did not sound good on the highway in a car! I play a lot of CDs in my car, but rarely classical music because the dynamic range needed to appreciate these performances just will not work on a highway; if I wanted to hear a lot of classical music in the car, I'd probably 'burn' my CDs to CD-Rs using software in which I could compress the dynamic range, so 'lows' & 'highs' can be heard comfortably.

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Wonderful Mozart on Period Instruments

In what must be considered a triumph of performance and recording, the Bilson/Gardiner/English Baroque Soloists collaboration on the Mozart Piano Concertos cycle makes us understand anew what Mozart should really sound like. These are period instruments? We can't make ourselves believe that, and yet that is the case here, as remarkable as that may be. The sound that pours forth from these discs is rich, vibrant, full, and, powerful. Bilson doesn't miss a beat, and Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists play throughout with their usual silky perfection. The recording quality is simply superb, and the balance between piano and orchestra is just right. And although the piano is the focus of this set of works, the English Baroque Soloists play with such great precision and rich sound that we appreciate all over again the important role in orchestral accompaniment in successfully pulling off compositions like these. This is certainly a set that most, if not all, classical musical enthusiasts should consider acquiring.

These discs, as virtually all of the Archiv/DG discs from the 1980's and 90's, were originally released as individual pieces. At that time, these discs were being sold at a much greater price, and collecting the entire set was a more difficult task. With DG's more recent "Collector's Edition" box sets, which consist of entire sets of re-issued recordings in a more economical packaging, acquiring these sets is now simultaneously much easier and less expensive. (In fact, building a comprehensive classical collection today using such box sets is now much more a feasible undertaking, and although we lose out on all the lovely artwork that once graced the individual Archiv discs, it is a small price to pay for making these recordings much more affordable and pre-organized into comprehensive collections.)

Mozart's Piano Concertos, a form he essentially created, are some of the most delightful, cheery, and upbeat pieces in the repertoire, and even non-classical enthusiasts have difficulty avoiding their obvious delights. Nevertheless, even Mozart said that there were gems hidden among them that only the most musically talented individuals would be able to discern, and so these pieces hold something for everyone. Among the numerous recordings available, this set is certainly one of the very best, making it a prime choice for the collector. Take advantage of DG's "Collector's Edition" set to make it an even better deal.

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Mozart's Piano Concertos as He Would Like Them

John Eliot Gardner and Malcolm Bilson are to be thanked for giving us such a superb release of all of Mozart's original piano concerti on original instruments of Mozart's time. These are brisk and bracing as well as dramatic and even dancing versions of these timeless classics. Bilson is an excellent fortepianist and Gardner and his band provide great performances of their parts, making this an essential set. There are other good and great performances of these works, either seperately or complete (such as those by Brendel, Uchida, Perahia, et al.), but these are special. Excellent sound and good packaging and notes.

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