CD REVIEW – MOZART Piano Concertos 25 & 27
Piotr Anderszewski, Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Warner Classic 9029572422

For many classical music lovers Mozart is their main man (others favour Bach and for me it is Beethoven). Wolfgang Amadeus, baptised as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was certainly a major tunesmith, as is clearly demonstrated in this album containing two of his 27 piano concertos.

No.25 was completed in Vienna on 4th December 1766 when, in his book 'Mozart: His Character, His Work', Alfred Einstein opines that he was at the peak of his genius. Symphony No. 38, the "Prague", was to quickly follow. He wrote only two more piano concertos in the last few years of his life and No.27 was completed on 5th January 1791. He died 11 months later aged only 35. Einstein describes it as a mature work that reflects Mozart’s eternally youthful spirit, standing "on the threshold of eternity." Mozart was raised a Roman Catholic and remained a devout member of the church throughout his life.

The Warsaw-born (1969) Piotr Anderszewski – regarded as one of the outstanding musicians of his generation – directs from the piano. Buy this album and you will get an hour of highly recommendable melodic music both well played and recorded only last July in Baden Baden, Germany.
The CD is housed in a new presumably more environmentally friendly digipak using less plastic.

Peter Burt © 2018