Pianist Alexander Schimpf writes: “Mozart’s music poses special challenges to performers, and they have often been pointed out. As it would seem, certain fundamental tensions...

Pianist Alexander Schimpf writes: “Mozart’s music poses special challenges to performers, and they have often been pointed out. As it would seem, certain fundamental tensions or contradictions inherent in music making are taken to extremes: many works by Mozart require that the instrumental process and conditions responsible for producing the sound should retreat into the background in favor of the musical result as we hear it. No expenditure of energy should be noted or heard. Fine, precise timing adjustments should never sound organized or deliberate. This music should ideally be presented as something that emerges entirely naturally, of its own accord. All the mental and technical effort in the background should be eliminated from the forefront of perception. Otherwise, the typically ‘floating’ Mozartian natural effect, that magical inner balance, cannot emerge… On this recording we make use of the version specifically authorized by Mozart: eschewing additional wind parts. Although the wind parts composed by Mozart for these concertos can indeed provide some color, they do not have anything essential or indispensable to add in terms of musical substance.”