Search - Mozart, Philharmonia Orchestra, Edwin Fischer :: Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 25

Edwin Fischer is a piano legend, performer of the first complete Bach Well-Tempered Clavier ever recorded and a major presence on recordings from the 1930s until well into the LP era. These Mozart Concerto recordings display the pianist's eloquence, his most famous characteristic. Every phrase is played with conviction and poetry. Still, Fischer's Mozart is a product of his time. The textures of the full Philharmonia Orchestra can sound bloated to our ears, and the balances don't always reveal all the music Mozart intended us to hear. Although the Concerto No. 20 is a later recording (1954), Fischer's division of labor between playing and conducting doesn't produce as much clarity as in the earlier recording of No. 25 (1947), when a full-time hand is on the tiller (and that of a great Mozartean, Josef Krips). These are still significant performances, but they will appeal more to collectors of historical recordings than to general Mozart listeners. Some Fischer devotees will find this CD irresistible because of the inclusion of a small encore, an Ariette variée by Emanuel Förster (1748-1823), a sweet little piece in a previously unpublished recording. --Leslie Gerber