Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performer: Jonathan Biss
Orchestra: Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
Conductor: Jonathan Biss
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Warner
Catalogue: 2172702
Release: 2008
Size: 279 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K467 ‘Elvira Madigan’
01. I. Allegro maestoso
02. II. Andante
03. III. Allegro vivace assai
Piano Concerto No. 22 in E flat major, K482
04. I. Allegro
05. II. Andante
06. III. Rondo (Allegro)
The young, articulate and passionate American pianist, Jonathan Biss, an exclusive artist for EMI Classics, returns with his much anticipated fourth album for the label featuring Mozart’s Piano Concerti Nos. 21 and 22.
Jonathan is joined by the Grammy®-Award winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, internationally renowned for its fine artistry and distinctive approach to music-making.
It is commonly said that if one wished to learn everything there is to know about Mozart, but could only study a single type of composition, the best choice would be the piano concerto. In this one area, Mozart produced twenty-seven pieces, more piano concerti than any other composer.
His 21st and 22nd appeared in the latter part of his career and were composed in the same year. Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.21 in C is one of the great and most well-known of his 27 piano concerti. It is also considered among the most technically demanding of all Mozart’s concerti. Indeed, Leopold Mozart once described it as “astonishingly difficult”.
Mozart was a gifted improviser and it is said that he preferred not to write out the solo cadenzas, deciding instead to improvise them on the spot. Though most of Mozart’s cadenzas have survived, Nos. 20 and No 21, have not. Jonathan has decided to play all his own cadenzas except for the last movement of K467, where he plays Dinu Lipatti’s.
Jonathan was introduced on the Debut label at EMI but swiftly moved onto the main label, acknowledging that he is an exceptional and highly accomplished musician. At only 27, he has already established a flourishing international career, both in recital and orchestral performances.
He remains the only American to date to have been chosen to participate in the BBC’s New Generation Artists’ scheme.
While one cannot but praise pianist Jonathan Biss’ superb performances of Mozart’s Piano Concertos No. 21 and No. 22 for their graceful tone and elegant articulation, arguably the best music-making here is done by the accompanying orchestra, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Again and again, the poise of the balances, the effortlessness of the ensemble, the characterfulness of the solos, and the sheer joy in the playing steals the listener’s attention away from the soloist. This is not to say that Biss is less than splendid. Building on the brilliant success of his earlier Schumann disc, the young soloist turns in well-considered but still spontaneous and wholly sincere readings of the solo parts that will surely enhance his reputation as a pianist to watch. But the conductorless chamber orchestra’s performance is so fine, so true, and so filled with light that one can only hope that some classical label signs them to record Mozart’s symphonies. EMI’s digital sound is clear, warm, and wonderfully detailed.