Customer Reviews

Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20, 23, 24, 26 & 27

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Decca has wisely chosen Curzon's recordings of these Mozart concertos for reissue in their "Legends" series. Nos. 20 and 27 with Britten and the English Chamber Orchestra are absolutely classic, nos. 23 and 24 with Kertesz and the London Symphony hardly less so. Curzon was at his best in Mozart. His playing is stylish, elegant, and expressive within the context of Mozart's period, without exaggeration or idiosyncrasy. The sound is excellent and has been successfully remastered. The only snag is that no. 26 is split between the two CDs, but since this is the least popular of these concertos anyway this probably won't matter all that much. Highly recommended, and a tremendous bargain at this price (I paid almost this much a few years back just for these recordings of concertos nos. 20 and 27!).

These recordings predate today's fads of inserting lots of flashy embellishments, inventing new (usually prolix) cadenzas, imitating the limitations of a pianoforte, accellerating tempi, and producing sparkling Mozart Lite. All Curzon delivers is outstanding playing with plenty of feeling but no fussiness. Curzon knew better than most musicians how to play slow music so it comes across as deep rather than boring, so he doesn't rush the slow movements as so many performers do. He plays the usual Beethoven cadenzas in #20.

All 5 performances are polished to perfection; and the recorded sound, while not state of the art, is very good for its time (1967 - 1970). I respectfully disagree with the reviewer who finds the piano too faint; if anything, the widespread vice of making the solo instrument too prominent in concerto recordings has been rather narrowly avoided.

So don't buy this set to revolutionize your view of Mozart. Buy it for great playing, full of delightful subtleties.

The whole story of the composers-conductors have not been written may be well considered unfinished if the name of Britten is not included. His approach in what Mozart concerns is a fact worthy of the best and sincere epithets. He added these Piano Concerts not only elegance, cram, noblesse but also aristocracy and refinement.

So when the imaginative melodic flight of Britten converges with the wisdom innocence of Sir Clifford Curzon -one of the few artists who "made sing" the piano- (Wilhelm Kempff was the genuine master in this field), the result is a true enraptured and inspired Mozart, because as the Great Genius, Mozart 's significance is major by what suggests instead by the expressed.

I should remark the special relevance of this CD because both works mean somehow, the alpha and omega of the best set of Concerts of Wolfgang Amadeus: the 20th is to my mind, the most complete and profound of all Mozart piano Concertos. It possesses humor, innocence, tragedy and redemption; all the mythic cycle expressed in thirty minutes.

"The brevity is the soul of the cleverness"

Absolutely recommended.

This is Mozart playing at its peak. Clifford Curzon is associated with Mozart's concertos in the same way as Schnabel is with Beethoven's sonatas. Not to say Curzon is the last word in Mozart's concertos, as there is very strong competition from Rubinstein, Haskil, Casadesus and Serkin. Gilels also recorded a No.27 that is superb. Sadly, none of these artists recorded the complete set, other than Serkin's rather lame rendering with Abbado when Serkin was in his 80's and well past his prime. Nos. 20 and 27 are conducted by the multi-talented Benjamin Britten with the ECO, which offer fine support. But the pearls of this set are the 23rd, 24th and 26th, conducted by the grossly underrated Istvan Kertesz, accompanied by the LSO. While Kertesz is best known for his Dvorak, he shows in these performances a great affinity for Mozart as well. Curzon's playing is brilliant and tasteful throughout this excellent 2 disc set from Decca, with very good sound.

Clifford Curzon was a very reluctant recording artist. In his limited discography, I can think of no performance that is less than first rate. Amongst all the composers that he performed, it is Mozart and Schubert that found him at his most sympathetic. These composers suited his understated, sensitive and unflashy personality.

What a treasure chest this reissue is; five late Mozart Piano Concerti at a reduced price. Curzon is on top form and his performances approach perfection. It all sounds so easy, natural, authentic and unforced. But that is one of the hallmarks of greatness; to make the difficult sound easy. Curzon is fortunate to have one great (Britten) and one very good (Kertesz) conductor as accompanists. The vintage Decca sound is an additional bonus. Indispensable.

These are excellent performances, however, I had trouble listening to some this recording because the piano seemed so quiet and distant and was often overwhelmed by the orchestra's volume. I found myself straining to hear the quiet passages, but couldn't turn it up because the loud sections with full orchestra would be too loud. This was particularly the problem with the Britten-conducted performances, Nos. 20 and 27, less so on the rest.

I'll still try to listen to this cd, but I have other Mozart Piano Concerto performances by Alfred Brendel and Richard Goode that have better definition in the sound and a piano that doesn't get lost in the orchestra that I enjoy more.

Edit(2008): I'm crazy. I'm not sure what I was thinking. The Britten/ECO performances sound great. The orchestra in the LSO performances also sounds great, but the piano in those pieces is not as clear as the ECO ones. It doesn't sparkle--like a blanket is over the piano (or the mics are too far away). But these are still great performances of great works.