Now this was a sublime experience, out of these two Concertos on this disc it's number 20 i like the best, however today the 21st just blew me away, especially the slow movement, i would say this is my favourite version of this coupling of these two Concerti on disc, Mozart wasn't someone who used a huge Orchestra like Mahler or Bruckner would, and it's great that this is a chamber orchestra playing this, there's something more intimate about the whole thing, nicely recorded and superbly communicated, i played this on the way to Church today, the weather is getting colder, but this warms my heart.
Andras Schiff is Hungarian, He's now 58, he recorded this disc in 1989, Schiff has done a whole series of discs covering the Mozart Concertos, the photographs of Schiff [by Phil Sayer] are all slanted at an angle, i actually like this, all of them looking up from low angles, with some nice architecture in the background, i love the silhouette leaves in the foreground, and his face is well lit / shadowed, the theme of the blue band for the lettering is great also, it gives each photo a very tall and narrow perspective.
The second movement is the one that really got to me, this can be overdone and full of gush, but here it's presented in all innocence and simplicity, and it really benefits from that, it's only 6:42 long, this movement is played in F Major, very dreamlike in flow, it's the high violins that play the sweet melody, while the other strings play the rhythm, both bowed and pizzicato, the intro is short [0:00-1:26] but you don't want it to end, it would have made a gorgeous purely orchestral piece, the melody is one of the greatest things that Mozart ever wrote, and the piano comes in to play it very simply indeed [1:29-2:10], Schiff plays the second version of the tune more complex, and a shade darker [2:18+], it's just so simply irresistible, the woodwind jump on the bandwagon at times, giving some great sonorities, and i can hear a wonderful bassoon in there [3:38+], like a gliding swan, there's only a slight ripple here and there which might ruffle the feathers, the original opening piano tune starts up again [4:34+], and it's so good to hear that melody in its pureness again, Schiff throws in the slight changes, towards the end Mozart echoes the main tun on the piano with the lovely melody in the bass [5:57-6:09], and it ends on a slowing rhythm of calm, now that really touches the soul.
Here's Murray Perahia playing the second movement Andante on YouTube.
Here's Murray Perahia playing the second movement Andante on YouTube.
