Mozart: Piano Concertos

Alfred Brendel / Neville Marriner / Academy of St. Martin in the Fields

  • AllMusic Rating
    9
  • User Ratings (0)
  • Your Rating

Mozart: Piano Concertos Review

by James Leonard

When you're considering buying a set of Mozart's piano concertos, there are three fundamental issues that need to be addressed: how complete do you want it to be? How new do you want it to be? How often do you think you'll play it? If completeness counts, this set of the concertos includes not only every piano concerto and both piano rondos, but all three two-piano concertos, all three harpsichord concertos, and all four fortepiano concertos. You can't get more complete than that. If newness counts, these recordings are from the early '70s through the late '80s and all of them are examples of Philips silver-and-bronze piano sound at its most realistic. If how often you think you'll play it counts, these performances hold up well over time. Ingrid Haebler's fortepiano concertos are still beguiling after 30 years and Katia and Marielle Labèque's two-piano concerto is still seductive after 20. Some might question sticking with Alfred Brendel for the 20 piano concertos, lauding his textural lucidity while deploring his emotional objectivity, but the fact of the matter is that Brendel's objectivity is exactly what lets his performances hold up under repeated hearings. While other pianists may excite you, Brendel will always satisfy you.

Track Listing - Disc 1

Title/Composer Performer Time Stream
Piano Concerto No. 1 in F major, K. 37
1 Alfred Brendel / Academy of St. Martin in the Fields / Neville Marriner 05:25 SpotifyAmazon
2 Alfred Brendel / Academy of St. Martin in the Fields / Neville Marriner 05:54 SpotifyAmazon
3 Alfred Brendel / Academy of St. Martin in the Fields / Neville Marriner 04:57 SpotifyAmazon
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major, K. 39
4 Alfred Brendel / Academy of St. Martin in the Fields / Neville Marriner 05:28 SpotifyAmazon
5 Alfred Brendel / Academy of St. Martin in the Fields / Neville Marriner 05:21 SpotifyAmazon
6 Alfred Brendel / Academy of St. Martin in the Fields / Neville Marriner 03:55 SpotifyAmazon
Piano Concerto No. 3 in D major, K. 40
7 Alfred Brendel / Academy of St. Martin in the Fields / Neville Marriner 05:30 SpotifyAmazon
8 Alfred Brendel / Academy of St. Martin in the Fields / Neville Marriner 04:51 SpotifyAmazon
9 Alfred Brendel / Academy of St. Martin in the Fields / Neville Marriner 02:39 SpotifyAmazon
Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, K. 41
10 Alfred Brendel / Academy of St. Martin in the Fields / Neville Marriner 05:25 SpotifyAmazon
11 Alfred Brendel / Academy of St. Martin in the Fields / Neville Marriner 04:16 SpotifyAmazon
12 Alfred Brendel / Academy of St. Martin in the Fields / Neville Marriner 03:49 SpotifyAmazon

Track Listing - Disc 2

Title/Composer Performer Time Stream
Piano Concerto in D major (after J.C. Bach's keyboard sonata, Op 5/2), K. 107/1
1 Alfred Brendel / Academy of St. Martin in the Fields / Neville Marriner 05:24 SpotifyAmazon
2 Alfred Brendel / Academy of St. Martin in the Fields / Neville Marriner 04:31 SpotifyAmazon
3 Alfred Brendel / Academy of St. Martin in the Fields / Neville Marriner 03:53 SpotifyAmazon
Piano Concerto in G major (after J.C. Bach's keyboard sonata, Op 5/3), K. 107/2
4 Alfred Brendel / Academy of St. Martin in the Fields / Neville Marriner 03:59 SpotifyAmazon
5 Alfred Brendel / Academy of St. Martin in the Fields / Neville Marriner 04:34 SpotifyAmazon
Piano Concerto in E flat major (after J.C. Bach's keyboard sonata, Op 5/4), K. 107/3
6 Alfred Brendel / Academy of St. Martin in the Fields / Neville Marriner 05:06 SpotifyAmazon
7 Alfred Brendel / Academy of St. Martin in the Fields / Neville Marriner 04:38 SpotifyAmazon
Concerto for 3 (or 2) pianos & orchestra in F major ("Lodron," "Concerto No. 7"), K. 242
8 Alfred Brendel / Academy of St. Martin in the Fields / Neville Marriner 08:34 SpotifyAmazon
9 Alfred Brendel / Academy of St. Martin in the Fields / Neville Marriner 10:31 SpotifyAmazon
10 Alfred Brendel / Academy of St. Martin in the Fields / Neville Marriner 06:16 SpotifyAmazon
blue highlight denotes track pick