Mozart: Complete Piano Concertos

Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Zacharias, Christian

MDG 340 1900-2

Previously available on individual discs, Christian Zacharias’ MDG Mozart Piano Concerto cycle has now been assembled in a space-saving, specially priced boxed set. Among recorded Mozart cycles with the soloist conducting from the keyboard, Zacharias’ entry scores higher for all-around consistency than those by Anda, Barenboim, Ashkenazy, and Immerseel, and sometimes rises to the high levels of Perahia and Buchbinder. Zacharias brings style, sensitivity, and taste to the table, abetted by a pearly, perpetually singing tone and cultivated technique. His finely honed partnership with the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra reveals few–if any–of the compromises in note attacks and releases or unanimity of phrase shaping that sometimes characterize soloist-led Mozart concerto collaborations. Slow movements go particularly well when the music calls out for pathos, intimacy, and beautiful cantabile phrasing, as in Nos. 18, 21, 23, and 27. Quicker music sometimes lacks drama and edge, and you can hear this when comparing the present performances alongside Zacharias’ earlier EMI Mozart cycle with various orchestras and conductors. Although there is more to Mozart’s concertos than Zacharias and the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra may ultimately deliver, one is reluctant to question their authority and musicianship.

CD x 9

MDG

11/6/15

760623190020