Mozart - Piano Concerto 22 [Uchida/Tate-English Chamber Orchestra]These are 2 Piano Concertos of Mozart that i don't know as well as the others [20-21 & 24], and it was good to re-acquaint myself with them, and try to get to know these 'middle-late' works better.
Mitsuko Uchida is of course Japanese, now in her sixties, she recorded the complete Mozart Piano Concertos with Jeffrey Tate in the mid Eighties.
The two outer movements are especially lively, with some lovely quicksilver playing, i really enjoyed the first movement, it has quite a long orchestral introduction [over 2 minutes], starting off with a noble orchestral / woodwind fanfare, which the bassoon / horns reply to, when this fanfare comes back later [2:52], it now has the piano in reply as well, a nice added touch by Mozart, and of course this new fanfare comes back again [7:53], the orchestra / piano weave their magic throughout, very quintessential Mozart, Uchida and Tate are very genial, bringing out the refinement that Mozart has, never straying into deeper controversial waters, there's a gentleness about Uchida which is simply disarming.
Here's Ayako Uehara playing the first movement on YouTube.
