Search - Various :: Mozart: Piano Concertos 17 & 21

An extraordinary interpretation of K-467

Douglas Burnside | Alaska | 10/29/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is not a technically perfect performance: there are occasional mis-played notes, Mr. Fischer misses the rhythm in a few spots, the sound mixing provides an unfortunate kazoo-like resonance here and there... and none of these trivial nit-picks matters in the least because Mr. Fischer's interpretation of the piece is so extraordinary. I own several performances of this concerto (I refer to #21 in C-Major; the other concerto on the CD (#17) does not excite me) and while other pianists play the notes with commendabale competence, all they do is plod their way through the piece. Fischer, on the other hand, plays the music the way I imagine that Mozart intended. Give credit also to the conductor for making this so definitively a piano piece with orchestral accompaniment, rather than an orchestra with a piano as one of the instruments. If I have a single significant complaint with this recording, it is that the cadenza that Mr. Fischer wrote for the end of the first movement is a bit heavy-handed, lacking the airy gracefulness and genius of Mozart. But then, I guess that would apply to just about any other music ever written, wouldn't it? :-) Fischer's building of tension starting at seven minutes into the first movement, culminating in an incredible use of dissonance (that other pianists always seem to gloss over) at the eight minute mark leaves me at a loss for superlatives to describe it. Every time I hear it, the hairs on my arms stand up from goosebumps. His joyous virtuosity in the third movement, with subtle rhythm changes and shifts in emphasis makes other performances of the work sound staid and mechanistic by comparison. Of all the music I own (a considerable amount) Vilmos Fischer's performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto #21 in C Major, K-467, is probably the least expensive and is certainly the most treasured."