Mozart: Piano Concertos K. 414 & 491

Maurizio Pollini (Artist, Conductor, Performer), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Composer), Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Maurizio Pollini
• Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
• Conductor: Maurizio Pollini
• Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Audio CD (May 13, 2008)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B00111WRRQ
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #60,136 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

When you are in love, you can never get enough, so Pollini has done it again: in summer 2007 he and the Wiener Philharmoniker recorded the early Piano Concerto in A major, K. 414 and the famous C minor Concerto, K. 491, a work characterised by its brooding pathos. As with his first Mozart recording, Pollini's relationship with the Wiener Philharmoniker is again unmediated by a conductor - an enterprise that presupposes the deep mutual understanding of the partners. The result is one of the noblest and most profound Mozart experiences imaginable.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enchantingly beautiful playing ... lucidly recorded ...simply spellbinding... highly recommended...a very special CD, July 14, 2008

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Peter B. Behr "Peter Behr" (New York, NY, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mozart: Piano Concertos K. 414 & 491 (Audio CD)

This is Maurizio Pollini's second CD playing Mozart piano concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic and conducting from the keyboard. The playing is enchantingly beautiful and the performances are lucidly recorded.
The program was played on June 2 and June 3 in the Musikverein in Vienna.
The evening program began with Mozart's Concerto No. 12 for Piano and Orchestra, A Major, KV 414. It was followed by Stravinsky's Octet for Wind Instruments; Hugo Wolf's Serenade G Major, "Italian Serenade"; and closed with Mozart's Concerto No. 24 for Piano and Orchestra, C Minor, KV 491.
When I first listened to this CD, I found myself playing it through several times in a row. One friend with limited interest in classical music hear it, went out and bought a copy, and said he played it straight through 4 times as soon as he got home with it. Another friend, who is very particular about what she listens to, and drives quite far most days, says she has not taken the CD off her car's CD player.
This is a very engaging set of performances. Pollini's playing is enchantingly beautiful, and luminously suffused throughout with deep and warm understanding, fine charm and lyrical wit.
Pollini plays No 12/A Major/K 414 with Mozart's cadenzas. This easy and friendly concerto is rich in melodies and full of delightful inventions, even while following the formal concerto structure, and Pollini brings all this out in a lovely, lyrical way.
No 24/C Minor/K 491 is sometimes referred to as dark or brooding. Darkly stirring would be a better description for what I heard in the opening passage work, and which characterizes much of this concerto. The contrasts between the dramatically shifting energy of the first and third movements and the reflective calm of the middle movement throw into relief each movement's complex character, while also underlying their coherence as a whole. It is simply spellbinding.
Pollini's friend, Salvatore Sciarrino composed the cadenzas, which Mozart did not leave. Sciarrino brings the same ineffably good taste to his composition here as he did on Pollini's last Mozart CD - very different from Sciarrino's challenging contemporary compositions.
The Vienna Philharmonic again is a good orchestral partner, and the recording and engineering quality are again very fine. Highly recommended, even for devotees of other pianists. This is a very special CD.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mozart made as beautiful as possible (in a good way), September 8, 2008

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Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mozart: Piano Concertos K. 414 & 491 (Audio CD)

We are long past the distorted fashion in which Mozart concertos used to be played, with a tinkly piano miniaturizing the solo part and a fattened Romantic orchestra playing on a totlaly different scale. Making Mozart sound civilized counted for too much, but now drama, contrast, and surprises count just as much. This, the second Mozart concerto CD from Pollini in a year (he waited years since his first foray with Karl Bohm as conductor in 1976), is suavely beautiful Mozart played on an elegant scale with every refined instinct that the famed pianist has at his disposal. Nor, to clear the air right off, is he glacial or clinical, two charges directed at Pollini by his detractors.

The two chosen pieces stand on opposite sides of the great divide of 1784. The major concertos, starting with K. 449, come in or after that year, the lesser ones before. Concerto No. 12, K. 414, is melodic, winning, and uncomplicated, and praise goes to Pollini for not trying to dress it up. His reeading is unaffected but highly focused at the same time -- the magic of this pianist has always been that the music forms a single arc from beginning to end.

The same holds true in the far more ambitious Concerto No. 24 K. 491, one of Mozart's deepest explorations into the noble melancholy of C minor (as an appendage, listen to the great Fantasia in C minor K. 396. My question going in was whether Pollini as conductor could express enough force and tension in the orchestral part. The answer is not quite. But as in the earlier CD from last year, he's enormously helped by the Vienna Phil. and its natural affinity for Mozart -- they do find enough depth. However, if you want marked dramatic contrast between soloist and accompaniment, it's not to be found here. Pollini prefers a melliflous surface, and beauty trumps drama.

In the end, it would be hard to imagine a contemporary pianist who plays these two works with such finesse, so I will put all objections aside. The catalog has been dominated for years by period-style performances of Mozart, and anyone who can give us traditional Mozart without sounding heavy and dated is to be commended. Pollini does that and goes farther, reaching the frontier of the sublime, even if he doesn't cross over as fully as Clifford Curzon or Edwin Fischer.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A legendary virtuoso offers a revelatory Mozartean experience!, June 27, 2010

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P. Adrian "Adrian" (Arad, Romania) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mozart: Piano Concertos K. 414 & 491 (Audio CD)

Maurizio Pollini - renowned for his astounding virtuosity - tackles here two graceful (rather lyrical) works by Mozart: the bright A major piano concerto (K 414) and the sober C minor one (K 491). The result is wondrous indeed, not only for there is a super-class partnership - involving Pollini (as soloist and conductor) and the excellent orchestra of the Vienna Philharmonic - caught by the Deutsche Grammophon technicians in a warm and natural sound throughout. But mainly for Pollini seems fond of recovering here the taste for detail and soaring cantabile, the joy of lightly improvising while rigorously illuminating a wonderful music. The architect in music which is Pollini - I dare say - offers a filigree-oriented rendition of the two masterpieces. Of course, the grand structure is not concealed even for a single moment. The harmonic pillars, the witty unifying line or the vivid melodic content are not missing - just a fresh light Pollini shades on them, as to highlight the marvellous individual units compounding the whole. All his spectacular musicianship is focused chiefly on the beauty of the sound, on the natural fluidity of the phrase. The joyful mood takes the stage elegantly in K 414, while a kind of insolvable regret breathes throughout K 491. On technical level, one can easily recognize Pollini's style, his incomparable touch: bold accents, strong contrasts, aristocratic flavours, romantic nervousness, a keen sense of narration. The charming finger-work - powerful and efficient, but far from being a goal in itself - serves to define a conception, a point of view, even a comment on the scores in question. Pollini's legendary technical prowess (still fabulous), his unfailing musical intuitions, his gusto are here enthralled to the wonderful music he plays. Each small structure, each melodic line, each harmonic detail, is given a simple and adequate light, its proper weight. The inspired (and inspiring!) accompaniment supplied by Vienna Philharmonic takes its part in the success of this recording. Yet, Pollini's version of these concertos (taken live from a concert at Musikverein in Vienna in June 2007) transcends merely interpretation, becoming (re)creation in its own right due to his thrilling performance. A truly revelatory Mozartean experience! Five stars!