Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performer: Academy of Ancient Music, Robert Levin, Louise Alder, Richard Egarr
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: AAM Records
Catalogue: AAM045
Release: 2023
Size: 2.04 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
01. Concerto movement in G major from Nannerl’s Music Book
Piano Concerto No. 5 in D major, K175
02. I. Allegro
03. II. Andante ma un poco adagio
04. III. Allegro
Piano Concerto in D major, K 107 No. 1
05. I. Allegro
06. II. Andante
07. III. Tempo di minuetto
Piano Concerto in G major, K 107 No. 2
08. I. Allegro
09. II. Allegretto
Piano Concerto in E flat major, K 107 No. 3
10. I. Allegro
11. II. Allegretto
12. Church (Epistle) Sonata No. 17 in C major for organ & strings, K336
Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) continues a celebrated project to record Mozart’s complete works for keyboard and orchestra, with this tenth volume of the series. Together with renowned scholar-pianist Robert Levin, and directed by Laurence Cummings and Bojan Čičić, AAM presents the Church Sonata No. 17 alongside the Piano Concerto No. 5 – Mozart’s first original keyboard concerto – both for orchestra and organ. The three K107 concertos are joined by a concerto movement from the music book of Mozart’s sister, Nannerl, believed to have been drafted by Mozart as a young child, and completed here by Robert Levin. The hardback CD package is accompanied by comprehensive notes commissioned specially for the album.
The revival of the complete Mozart keyboard concerto series by Robert Levin and the Academy of Ancient Music has been one of the unexpected pleasures of the 2020s; the series could have foundered after the death of Academy of Ancient Music conductor Christopher Hogwood but is being completed on the AAM’s own label, with conductor Laurence Cummings and violinist/leader Bojan Čičić providing a good facsimile of the classic sleek AAM sound. The cycle is down to some of the odder Mozart items; they are rendered with typically fresh ideas by keyboardist Levin, who has rethought the performances of Mozart’s concertos along historical lines with such devices as improvised cadenzas. Here, his most radical move is to perform the Piano Concerto No. 5, K. 175, on an organ instead of a piano; the notes point toward a history of secular uses of the organ in Salzburg (the Church Sonata No. 17 in C major, K. 336, really an organ concerto movement, is added on in support of the idea), and the work has no dynamic markings that would have been expected in a fortepiano work. It is not a closed case, but it is a plausible idea. The other surprise is an item from the so-called Nannerl’s Music Book, wherein some of the child Mozart’s precocious compositions were copied by Leopold Mozart. The book includes a concerto movement in G major, possibly by Wolfgang (an anecdote of the time supplies corroborating evidence), and lacking its orchestral parts; these were supplied by Levin. There are also a pair of concertos transcribed by Mozart from keyboard sonatas by J.C. Bach. Levin plays a harpsichord here and in the juvenile concerto movement, and his performances are straightforward, more so than usual. For listeners interested in the development of the young Mozart’s style, this is a worthwhile item.