With this 2023 release, the cycle of
Mozart
's mature piano concertos by pianist
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet
, with the
Manchester Camerata
under conductor
Gabor Takács-Nagy
, rolls on. The series, with a modern piano but an economical approach that shows some influence from the historical performance movement, has found both critical and popular success, and this finale will not disappoint.
Bavouzet
is a technically clean pianist who can impress with the elegance of any given phrase, but what strikes the listener considering his
work as a whole is the way he approaches each piece as an individual. His
is entirely different from his
Haydn
, as revealed in a long series of fine piano sonata recordings, and he is very sensitive to the development of
's style, capturing subtle interaction between piano and winds in the big middle-period concertos and backing off to a simpler melodicism in these late ones. In the
Piano Concerto No. 26 in D major, K. 537 ("Coronation")
, he prepares his own version of the incompletely notated left-hand part, and he adds some light ornamentation to the rather bare, slow movement.
's
albums have included overtures from the period of the concertos involved, and here, one gets no fewer than three from the last three
operas.
Takács-Nagy
integrates these with the concertos beautifully, and the program as a whole has a satisfying effect that brings to mind
's remark about the connoisseurs and the amateurs; the album can be appreciated at multiple levels.
Chandos
' engineering work at the Stoller Hall in Manchester is once again exemplary. This release made classical best-seller lists in the autumn of 2023. ~ James Manheim