Search - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Christian Zacharias, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra :: Mozart: Piano Concertos, Vol. 3 [Hybrid SACD]

Sparkling Christan Zacharias and his Lausanne Chamber Orches

P. Adrian | Arad, Romania | 04/26/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Christian Zacharias - as soloist and conductor - along with his players from Chamber Orchestra of Lausanne simply shine in these Mozart piano concertos (K 453 & K 456,) released as the volume No.3 in a series that aims to offer - step by step, by issuing a volume per year - a new complete recorded cycle. A cycle for the XXI century, entirely signed by these wonderful musicians!

If I would be urged to name the reserved repertory for Zacharias, his most suitable stylistic area, then two composers come instantly in my mind: Scarlatti and Mozart. After a few minutes of thinking, the list could be, of course, enlarged, but one can barely imagine someone among the living pianists to challenge Zacharias's artistry in Mozart and Scarlatti. The accomplished Mozartian Alfred Brendel retired in 2008 from the international concert platform...

Yet, there are in the market several other valuable versions of the complete (or almost complete) Mozart concerti - Brendel, Buchbinder, Perahia, Uchida - the new Zacharias-cycle stands in the first row of my preference up to this moment (five volumes already, covering 12 out of 27 concertos). To name but a few reasons that favours Zacharias: his exquisite playing with a special insight for small structures, his tireless disposal for expressing the finest details (listen for example, the slow movement of the G major concerto on this disc), his elegant and intelligent pure classical phrasing rather making the keyboard `sing', his spontaneity, and - last, but not least - his fresh reading of old and well-known masterpieces. The main lines are always constructed seamlessly out of the small structures (see, in this respect, the joyful finale of the same G major concerto), with a refined sense of musical truth. Everything is clear and clean.

This CD contains all these interpretive qualities of Christian Zacharias, the vivid accompaniment of his Swiss orchestra, plus a gorgeous recorded sound mastered by the MDG technicians. Truly recommended!

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