Customer Reviews

Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 12 / Piano Quartet No. 2, K. 414,493

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Amazon bills the CD is as Mozart Piano Quartet and the CD contains a fine recording of that work. However, it's actually side B that is the real winner. The performance of Mozart's transcription of the piano concerto for string quartet let's you hear the parts clear as gin. The piano playing is light and refined because Mr. Brendel doesn't have to make himself heard over an orchestra. The performance let's you hear the music in a new way -- like the Sitkovetsky transcription of the Goldbergs. I sincerely hope that ABQ+AB record the other transcribed concertos.

Here are two major-key compositions that find Mozart at his sunniest and most elegant. I have the deepest admiration for almost everything the Alban Berg Quartet records, but the chamber music of Mozart is a special category. They've played the string quartets with consummate artistry since their early days in the Seventies (those Teldec recordings are very much worth seeking out). I'm not so fond of Brendel, but here he seems more flexible and warmer than usual.

That's certainly true in the chamber transcription of the A Major Piano Concerto K. 385. It's in the playful, brilliant 'galante' style before the turning point of 1784, when the greatest of Mozart's piano concertos entered into more profound pathos and reflection, yet this kind of unaffected joy has its own greatness. Brendel plays with sensitivity and feeling; there's not a routine phrase. The ABQ assume a subsidiary role, but they make the accompaniment sound fully integrated into Brendel's expression.

As a form the piano quartet has only a scattering of great examples after Mozart (I love those by Brahms, Schumann, and Dvorak), perhaps because the piano overpowers the string trio, or maybe because composers prefer the piano quintet for its fuller opportunities for counterpoint. In any event, Mozart's E-flat Major Piano Quartet K. 403 brings somewhat more developed string writing than the previous concerto transcription and a Larghetto that feels more emotionally complex, but the outer movements are another testament to optimism and cheer. Brendel and the ABQ perform with utmost finesse without ever sounding trivial or precious.

The CD was recorded live from Vienna in 1999. At the budget price being asked at Amazon Marketplace, no lover of Mozart's music can afford to pass up such sterling performances.

The concerto interpretation has an incredibly light, almost gossamer quality to it. When listening to a standard interpretation with an orchestra, one misses numerous details that Mozart must have intended for listeners to hear. The details that were previously invisible to me became vividly clear. The Alban Berg/Alfred Brendel ensemble takes an unassuming approach, in that they are not trying to impersonate an orchestra. The 2nd Piano Quartet receives an equally inspired interpretation as well.
Overall, this disc is a must for a Mozart fan, and whether you've heard the concerto performed with an orchestra or not, you will thoroughly enjoy this disc.