Following his groundbreaking recordings of
Haydn
's keyboard sonatas, pianist
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet
has shifted gears into
Mozart
effectively with a cycle of concertos, of which this recording is the seventh.
Bavouzet
and conductor
Gabor Takacs-Nagy
, leading the
Manchester Camerata
, have crafted deliciously elegant readings that do not want for depth. On this volume, containing arguably
's two most ambitious and forward-looking concertos, the virtues of
's series transfer well onto a larger canvas. As with other recordings in the set,
and
Takacs-Nagy
are lightly influenced by the historical performance movement, avoiding a monumental sound and emphasizing transparency that reveals the wind writing. The
Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491
, is strikingly divergent from performances that make this concerto into proto-
Beethoven
; despite the minor key, it is pure
. The
Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major, K. 503
, is almost pure musical architecture, with hardly any real tunes; it is full of simple triadic and scalar material that is developed largely through harmonic rhythm, piano-orchestra interaction, and register. In
's hands, the simplest material can seem pregnant with implication, and this is one of the strongest recordings of this work (which can seem shapeless) on record. The ambiance of Manchester's Stoller Hall is ideal for showcasing the virtues of this recording, which are considerable, and propelled it to classical best-seller chart in early 2023. ~ James Manheim