Kristian Bezuidenhout (fortepiano)
Freiburger Barockorchester, Gottfried von der Goltz
In January 1783 Mozart advertised in the Vienna press "the publication of three new, recently completed piano concertos", which could even be played with quartet accompaniment – thus enabling him to reach a wider public. In similar vein, he told his father that they were "very brilliant and pleasing to the ear . . . Here and there only connoisseurs will derive satisfaction from them – yet in such a way that the non-connoisseur will also be pleased, without knowing why."
It’s a fair bet that these dazzling performances by Kristian Bezuidenhout and the Freiburger Barockorchester will meet with the same unanimous approval.
These are dazzling and at times unusually searching performances.
Bezuidenhout is an imaginative and engaging soloist, getting a variety of colours from his fortepiano.
There’s plenty of interpretative freedom...as the soloist takes Mozart’s scores as a starting point rather than as the gospel handed down from above...he is superbly responsive to the music’s high spirits and to the possibilities inherent in these scores.
The rounded tone, singing legato in slow movements and crisp articulation he coaxes from the instrument is far removed from the honky-tonk sounds of earlier attempts at period performances of the concertos...This well-known music sounds spontaneous and freshly conceived.
Though listed as director, Goltz is often closer to that of conductor, paying assiduous attention to instrumental balance, supporting or asserting as required. Only in the first movement of K414 is he a touch prosaic; otherwise he grants Bezuidenhout (who also plays continuo and uses the moderator for variations in tonal colour) the space needed for his searching interpretations. Every cadenza and lead-in is by Mozart; every slow movement is played with feeling. Very fine indeed
a delightfully spirited performance from Kristian Bezuidenhout … this is the very opposite of ‘museum piece Mozart’, so alive and responsive
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