Mozart - Piano Concertos 6, 8 & 9
Angela Hewitt; Orchestra da Camera di Mantova
Hyperion CDA67840
Has it really been 26 years since Angela Hewitt made the world sit up and take notice as the winner of the Toronto International Bach Competition? Since then, the Ottawa native (now based in London) has gone on to achieve international fame through her interpretations of such diverse composers as Bach, Couperin, Ravel and Messiaen (himself one of the judges in the competition). This newest Hyperion release features three early piano concertos by Mozart, the nucleus of a proposed project to record all 27. Together with the Orchestra da Camera di Mantova, under the leadership of Carlo Fabiano, Hewitt proves that she is as at home with Mozart as she is with music from the baroque or late romantic period. The disc is a gem! Her playing is stylish and elegant, demonstrating well-articulated phrasing and a refined sensitivity to the technical demands, while the 29-member ensemble constitutes a formidable musical partner.
These concertos were all written before Mozart was 22 and, not surprisingly, contain a mood of youthful optimism. Yet the music is not all galanterie. Indeed, for me, the highlight of the recording is surely the slow movement from the Concerto No.9, a work completed in January 1777 for Victoire Jenamy, the daughter of the famed choreographer Jean-Georges Noverre. Here, the sombre and elegiac mood is so perfectly evoked that I can’t help but envision a country churchyard in late autumn, the bare tree branches silhouetted against a grey sky. Sunshine returns with the jubilant finale – among the only concerto movements Mozart wrote in which the soloist begins before the orchestra – thus bringing this pleasing disc to a close. Bravissimo a tutti on a fine performance – we look forward to others in the series.
