Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) - Piano Concerto No. 18 in B Flat Major, K. 456; Piano Concerto No. 19 in F Major, K. 459 (1996) Cover Front Album Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) Conductor Christopher Hogwood Orchestra / Ensemble I The Academy of Ancient Music Length 58:34 Format CD Genre Concerto; Piano Concerto Index 348 Out of Print Yes Musicians Soloist Levin Credits Producer Chris Sayers Label L'Oiseau-Lyre Track List 01 Piano Concerto No. 18 in B Flat Major, K. 456: I. Allegro vivace 13:09 02 Piano Concerto No. 18 in B Flat Major, K. 456: II. Andante un poco sostenuto 09:49 03 Piano Concerto No. 18 in B Flat Major, K. 456: III. Allegro vivace 08:07 04 Piano Concerto No. 19 in F Major, K. 459: I. Allegro 12:20 05 Piano Concerto No. 19 in F Major, K. 459: II. Allegretto 07:17 06 Piano Concerto No. 19 in F Major, K. 459: III. Allegro assai 07:52 Personal Purchase Date 7/20/2002 Value $16.50 Store eBay Condition 100% Nationality Austrian Period Classical Details Studio Henry Wood Hall, London Catalog Number 452 051-2 Live No Recording Date 4/1/1995 Spars DDD Reissue No Sound Stereo Notes Robert Levin: Fortepiano (Paul McNulty, Amsterdam, 1991, after Walther, Vienna, 1795) Notes and illustrations Essay: Cliff Eisen, 1996 Essay: "A Note on Performance and Improvisation" by Robert Levin Gramophone review: "With this third disc in their series (the first two were reviewed in 7/94 and 9/95), Robert Levin and Christopher Hogwood move on to the concertos of Mozart’s full maturity, a pair belonging to that annus mirabilis of the piano concerto, 1784. These are thoughtful and strongly characterized performances which make much of the individuality of the works. K456, composed not for Mozart himself but for the blind pianist-composer Maria Theresia Paradies, is taken at rather steady tempos, with soft and sustained textures and gentle colours, and Levin plays it with rare tenderness and delicacy - there are many sensitive touches of timing in the first movement and less of self-conscious brilliance or assertiveness than the music might permit. I find this rather inward view very compelling, and it harmonizes happily with the view he and Hogwood take of the slow movement, a G minor set of variations, which on modern instruments is apt to sound decoratively pathetic but not deeply felt, which it certainly does here. There is a good deal of intensity, and of darker colouring: partly the result of the superior blend of sound resulting from the use of the fortepiano. And some of the solo woodwind playing is of a very high order. Then the finale is taken at quite a measured tempo, not at all as a jolly hunting piece, giving Levin opportunities (which he eagerly takes) of shaping and shading individual phrases effectively. The strange B minor episode, an oddity in Mozart’s concertos, comes out with more force than usual. Levin improvises the cadenzas, although sets by Mozart survive for both concertos: his argument that a cadenza should have an element of the unexpected is a strong one (though it’s difficult to retain that in a recording). I thought the one for K456 was perhaps less successful than some of his improvisations, with too many sequences and too Beethovenian a climax. But it’s hard to improvise when (as Levin does) you know the Mozart originals, and he deserves every credit for these brave and largely convincing attempts. "The F major, K459 is a lighter work, in a sense; its airy orchestral textures are quite unlike those of the other concertos, especially K456. This is a lively, almost jaunty performance, but in no way superficial; there are countless delectable touches in Levin’s playing as well as lightness and elegance, and the effect is very appealing. Similarly, the slow movement, here an Allegretto, is quite relaxed, and there is some lovely woodwind playing counterpointing gracefully with the piano, all exquisitely audible in this aurally translucent recording; and at the end you are left under no illusions about the seriousness and stature of the music. The same goes for the finale, which (as Cliff Eisen points out in his valuable notes) is truly the concerto’s centre of gravity, with its vigorous and well-argued excursions into fugal writing. The interplay of orchestra and soloist here is particularly adeptly managed, and there is real brilliance from Levin. A very happy disc, and a very illuminating one, to which I shall repeatedly return."