Mozart: Piano concertos 14-16/Buchbinder

David Hurwitz

Artistic Quality:

Sound Quality:

Gunter Hänssler’s new Profil label has captured a prize in the form of Rudolf Buchbinder’s Mozart piano concerto cycle, formerly on Calig. These are beautifully etched performances, shapely of line, tastefully ornamented, and graced with a lovely-toned instrument excellently balanced against the instrumental ensemble. Buchbinder retains the optional wind parts in Concerto No. 14 and gives trumpets and drums their due in No. 16. Overall this cycle remains one of the best led from the keyboard. At no point does it ever sound as though Buchbinder needs to get his hands quickly off the instrument in order to wave at the band. He captures the wit of Concerto No. 15’s outer movements with obvious relish, and the contrapuntal high jinks in No. 14’s finale seldom have sounded more pointed, at an ideal tempo regarding both clarity and vivacity. It may be that Buchbinder’s very consistency precludes that last ounce of personality characteristic of some other individual performances, but let’s not be excessively fussy: this is really good Mozart playing. These aren’t long works, but they rank with Mozart’s best, and having them all on a single disc, extremely well recorded, ought to make this self-recommending to all serious Mozartians.


Recording Details:

Reference Recording: Schiff/Vegh (Decca)

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART - Piano Concertos Nos. 14-16

  • Record Label: Profil - 4005
  • Medium: CD

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