Mozart: The Complete Piano Concertos Vol 5 / Lee, Katsaris, Et Al

$24.99
Label
Piano 21
Release Date
September 29, 2008
Format
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MOZART Piano Concertos: No. 8 in C, K 246 1; No. 14 in E?, K 449 2; No. 15 in B?, K 450 3 • Cyprien Katsaris, piano; Yoon Kuk Lee (cond); Salzburg CP • PIANO 21 P21 026-N (71:18) Live: Salzburg 1 12/6/96, 2 4/22/98, 3 1/15/98


I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: One-time whiz-kid Cyprien Katsaris has matured into one of the most wide-ranging pianists alive; and if you pass up his Mozart because you think that no one who plays Liszt, Tchaikovsky, and Boulez that well could possibly be at home in Mozart, you are making a serious mistake. The earlier releases in this complete run of the concertos—this is Volume 5, although Volume 6 has already been issued (see Fanfare 33:2)—showed him to be a first-class Mozartian. The same clarity, intelligence, and sensitivity are on display here—as is the same slightly old-fashioned approach that exploits, but does not indulge in, the timbral resources of a modern instrument.


The overall interpretive mood is slightly soft-spoken: There’s little of the caustic aftertaste we get from so many cutting-edge period-performance recordings, and in place of the blaze we might expect from his kinetic readings of super-virtuoso repertoire, we get a warm glow. But while it’s gentle, the playing isn’t weak or undercharacterized: Intimate rather than reticent, nuanced rather than shy, it’s Mozart playing of tremendous tact, discernment, and impetus. Thus, for instance, even though it never turns aggressive, the finale of the 14th Concerto has tremendous buoyancy; while it avoids the hard sell, the 15th opens with infectious momentum nonetheless. Throughout it all, Katsaris’s touch is breathtaking (listen to the utter grace of the small cadenza in the finale of No. 8). As on the earlier discs, too, I’m struck by the appreciation of the music’s conversational moments—from its banter to its more serious dialogues—both those between the piano and the orchestra and those within the solo part itself. It’s a quality that can give tremendous interest even to passages that, in other hands, risk sounding either mundane (try his treatment of the back-and-forth in the piano beginning at measure 163 in the finale of the Eighth) or slightly stuffy (listen to the delight in the fugal moments in the finale of No. 14).


Are these romantic readings? In a sense, yes; but to the extent that they are, they look ahead not to the heroics of Beethoven but to the kind of bel canto you hear in early Chopin. Nothing in these performances is ever slushy or sentimental, even in the slow movements—but the lyrical impulse takes priority over rhythmic drive. In all three performances, Yoon Kuk Lee and his orchestra offer finely gauged support laced with loving details that never distract (listen, for instance, to the delightful wind playing beginning at measure 62 in the finale of No. 8); the engineering, as on the rest of the series, is first-rate. As on earlier issues in the series, alternate cadenzas are offered (although truth to tell, none of them are particularly gripping, especially when played out of context). Warmly recommended.


FANFARE: Peter J. Rabinowitz


Product Description:

  • Release Date: September 29, 2008


  • UPC: 3760051450281


  • Catalog Number: P21 026


  • Label: Piano 21


  • Number of Discs: 1


  • Composer: W.A., Mozart


  • Performer: Katsaris, Salzburger Kammerphilharmonie, Lee