The spontaneous interplay, rhythmic vivacity, and virile fingerwork Georg Solti and Daniel Barenboim bring to their collaboration in Mozart’s Double Concerto is positively addictive. Solti’s fast tempos (what a clip for the finale!) are tempered by the full-bodied sonorities the conductor/pianist elicits from the English Chamber Orchestra. There are a few ungainly details, such as the solo oboe’s ugly sustained notes in the slow movement and the lack of the kind of surface refinement that distinguishes the Perahia/Lupu performance with the same orchestra. Still, these concerns hardly detract from the success of the whole.
With András Schiff at the third piano, the less musically interesting Triple Concerto similarly operates on a spirited level, as the soloists mesh to frequently gorgeous effect. The D minor concerto (K. 466) benefits from closer, more transparent engineering and a more alert orchestra. Considering his part-time pianist status, Solti more than rises to the occasion, although he underplays passages that call out for power and stamina, such as the outer movements’ fiery arpeggios and broken octaves, and the slow movement’s turbulent middle section. Some listeners also may find his rubato in the slow movement’s main theme a bit contrived and ultimately predictable. Fortunately the catalog abounds in first-rate K. 466 choices. Among these, Rudolf Buchbinder and the Vienna Symphony strike a happy medium between the bold drama of Brendel/Mackerras and the finely honed delicacy of Curzon/Britten.
