Search - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Chamber Players of Canada, Janina Fialkowska :: Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 11 & 12 [Hybrid SACD]

Mozart Piano Concertos Accompanied by String Quartet

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 12/02/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I don't generally mind transcriptions and probably shouldn't have felt, as I do, that these transcriptions of two of Mozart's piano concertos for piano and string quartet are fairly colorless affairs, particularly since these are transcriptions by Mozart himself. But, truth to tell, I so much prefer the full-orchestra versions of these two lovely concertos, with the added piquance of winds and the body added by a full string section, that I felt let down by them. And I don't think is the fault of the players -- Janina Fialkowska, piano, accompanied by four of Canada's stellar orchestral string players -- although I did think the performances, although technically secure, were tasteful but nothing special. Clearly, these arrangements were made by Mozart in order to sell copies of the scores to amateur musicians for use in the home. This was, of course, in the era before there was mass reproduction of music as we've had for the past 100 years or so. I imagine that today's amateur musicians would enjoy playing these arrangements. But whether listeners will enjoy these performances is another matter. Obviously it is for the individual CD buyer to decide. Frankly, I doubt I'll be listening to this CD again. In fact, I will likely give it away to the local college library.



The CD is filled out by a performance of Mozart's String Quartet No. 4, K157. (There is a sloppy splice about 3' into the first movement that repeats the final chord of a semi-cadence.) The Chamber Players of Canada give an adequate performance but I much prefer recordings of the early Mozart quartets by the American String Quartet, who have recorded all of Mozart's quartet output.



Side note: I was surprised to learn from the booklet that Janina Fialkowska, a pianist I've admired the few times I've heard recordings of hers, is not, as I'd thought, a native of Poland but, rather, was born and lives in Montréal, and was trained there and in Paris and New York. After a period of inactivity due to a tumor in her left arm, she has returned to concertizing.



Scott Morrison"