Mozart – Piano Concertos Nos.9 &22
Jan Lisiecki; Bamberger Symphoniker; Manfred Honeck
Deutsche Grammophon 520238000 (store.deutschegrammophon.com/en-en/products/jan-lisiecki-manfred-honeck-bamberger-symphoniker-kopie-mozart-piano-concertos-nos-9-22-110962)
From the opening phrases of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.9 K271, surely one of his earliest masterpieces, one realizes these performances take a rich, luxurious approach, expressively shaped with strong bass support from the Bamberg Symphony under Manfred Honeck. Lisiecki’s phrasing is invariably elegant, sometimes highly sculpted (hear the variety of tone in passagework at the recapitulation of the first movement of Concerto No.22 K482 at 8:13 of track 4, or in the trills of K271’s first movement development at 4:55 of track 1), while elsewhere phrases are presented simply and directly. There is none of the additional ornamentation that other pianists are increasingly adding to Mozart’s pure melodic lines (the recent recordings of sonatas and concertos by Robert Levin being only one of the most striking examples). Even in the recurring rondo theme of the third movement of No.22, Lisiecki resists any decoration of the often-repeated single-note tune.
There is, however, a notable flexibility of line in many of the solo passages of this new recording. As an example, listen to the sudden use of rubato in the recapitulation of K271’s first movement (7:12 of track 1). In the slow movements of both concertos, Lisiecki very often pulls back the tempo in his solo phrases. Both movements seem more Adagio than the Andantino and Andante that Mozart has indicated and are notably slower than recordings by the likes of Uchida, Andsnes, and Levin. The overall impression is that Lisiecki and Honeck take a leisurely, unhurried, and elegant view of this music. There is none of the impulsive energy or searingly intense woodwind colouring that one sometimes encounters in performances on period instruments. Even the cadenzas – Mozart’s own in K271 and Paul Badura-Skoda’s in K482 – tend toward the dreamy and introspective rather than the virtuosic or the extroverted.
These are classy performances for those who enjoy plush, shapely, and straightforward Mozart, impeccably phrased and in rich, warm recorded sound.
