Mozart: Piano Concertos in A K414, in F K413, in C K415. Berlin PO/Daniel Barenboim (piano) (Teldec)
Daniel Barenboim was active in the recording studio before he reached his teens. In his twenties he embarked on complete recordings of the Beethoven piano sonatas and Mozart piano concertos, which he directed from the keyboard with the English Chamber Orchestra. Now in his mid-50s he's recording the Mozart concertos again, this time with the Berlin Philharmonic. His approach is a free and easy one, ebullient, frisky, mercurial, and fond of peaky phrasing which makes a feature of the unexpected. I found the style wearing rather than stimulating, like the interjections of a travelling companion ceaselessly tugging at your elbow, pointing fingers and peddling an intrusive point of view.
By Michael Dervan
Schoenberg, Sciarrino, Ligeti. Chamber Orchestra of Europe/Claudio Abbado (DG)
Here is another fine 20thcentury programme from Claudio Abbado, this time with the versatile Chamber Orchestra of Europe. It ranges from the compressed eventfulness of Schoenberg's early Chamber Symphony to mature pieces by Ligeti (the Double Concerto for flute and oboe) and Sciarrino (Autoritratto nella notte), which might be said, by contrast, to be creations of the magnified moment - distillations of close-up and slow motion as opposed to the bustle and activity of Schoenberg's ground-breaking chromatic adventurousness. Now 50, Sciarrino is one of the century's masters of timbre. The disembodied whistles, warbles and explosions of the short "self-portrait" here are produced by an orchestra of Mozartian dimensions.
By Michael Dervan
Elgar: String Quartet; Piano Quintet. Peter Donohoe (piano), Maggini String Quartet. (Naxos)
Elgar wrote his String Quartet and Piano Quintet in 1918, when Europe was in the throes of bloody war and the composer was managing to emerge from a protracted period of fallowness. "I know it does not carry us any further," he wrote of this chamber music, "but it is full of golden sounds & I like it. But you must not expect anything violently chromatic or cubist." Naxos's new recordings by the Maggini Quartet with Peter Donohoe are vibrantly large-scale, bringing at times a sense of orchestral breadth to the music. For all the sonic splendour of the music-making, some listeners may feel that Peter Donohoe at times takes the no-holds-barred style a bit too far.
By Michael Dervan
