When orchestras became larger and larger, instrumentations more and more refined, and sound impressions louder and louder, Robert Fuchs composed . . . string quartets. Working in what is certainly the most intellectual musical genre, he had ears for intimate personal statements, while the music business had eyes mostly for showy spectacles. The Minguet Quartet, now a sought-after ensemble, once rescued Fuchs’s four quartets from decades of neglect when it was as aspiring young formation; the newly released special edition even today makes for true listening pleasure. The namesake of the Quartet is Pablo Minguet, a Spanish philosopher of the 18th century who attempted, in his writings, to facilitate access to the fine arts for all sectors of the population – and this idea is a chief artistic concern of the Minguet Quartet particularly while touring for concerts around the whole world. The passionate and intelligent interpretations of the Minguet Quartet always ensure inspiring listening experiences – “for the joy in sound and expression with which the ensemble makes the works speak enlivens even the smallest detail”. (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)

The effervescent and communicative energy of Bavouzet and Takacs-Nagy is encapsulated again in this second volume of their Mozart series. These exhilarating interpretations of Mozart’s piano concertos of 1784, faultlessly supported by the Manchester Camerata, follow highly praised concerts as well as a first volume which was “Editor’s Choice” in Pianist. The two concertos presented here are among the six that Mozart composed in Vienna in an extraordinarily productive year. As Bavouzet states in an exclusive personal note, they “share their association with operatic and symphonic styles. The contrasts of mood in their first movements relate them more closely with music for the operatic stage, while their finales are conceived in purely instrumental terms and make reference to the symphonic domain. On the other hand, these two works are complete opposites as far as their use of wind instruments is concerned. In KV 449 their inclusion is ad libitum, whereas they very often play the principal role in KV 459.”

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Led by Adi Brett, the ensemble is ideally sized for this repertoire, especially in the string department. Because clearly only players of the highest calibre are engaged, the character here is much more akin to the intimacy of a chamber group ensemble than a true symphonic ensemble, the clue, of course, partly being in the name. But that is not to say that there is not power-a-plenty when called for. The very opening of the E flat Concerto, in fact, says it all in a nutshell: absolute precision in the ornaments, great clarity of line where any instrument that has something important to say at any one point stands out, but never dominates the texture, and the impressive attack as the music goes into the relative minor (C minor, and one of the composer’s favourite keys for drama) around twenty-five seconds into the exposition. These all mark out this performance as something special, even before the soloist has made his own telling first contribution. It is clear that both sheer dynamism and enthusiasm in the orchestral playing emanates from the man at the front, Budapest-born Gábor Takács-Nagy, who also works just as hard to nurture the more lyrical side of the music. That is something he is more able to do by forsaking the baton, and itself something perfectly feasible for this size of ensemble.

But when Bavouzet makes his first appearance, he takes over exactly where the Camerata have left off, attesting to a great feeling of empathy between soloist and conductor. All too often, the soloist’s body language can suggest a degree of displeasure at the way the orchestra deals with the opening themes that the soloist will then make use of in the ensuing solo exposition.

In discussing his previous Mozart CD, Bavouzet explains his choice of the Yamaha CFX instrument: “When considering a piano for this project I immediately thought about a Yamaha. The wonderful comfort of the keyboard action, the refined sound, and the natural balance between bass and treble were qualities that made my choice obvious and perfect for the Mozart Concertos.” Although a life-long Steinway aficionado, I have to agree with his comments, in as much as the piano-sound on this new CD is concerned, enhanced, of course, by the outstanding fidelity of the recording as a whole, and the warm acoustic of the venue.

With the added generosity of two well-known and much loved Divertimenti—in D major, KV 136, and F major, KV 138, respectively—where the Manchester Camerata really comes into its own with some stunning playing, there can be little doubt that this new CD is the perfect successor.

-- MusicWeb International