| |
| Decca (Full price) (CD) 410 140-2. From SXDL7566 (8/83). |
|
Robin Golding gave the LP a warm welcome in August, declaring Alicia de Larrocha an instinctive Mozartian. Indeed she is. Her playing is both poetic and highly musical, even if there is also a tinge of romanticism. This effect is amplified by the very kindly acoustic of the Vienna Sofiensaal and the balance, which tends to give a fairly forward projection of the solo wind playing. The sound is warm and beautiful and the upper range is admirably smooth and natural, with the treble of the piano clear and pellucid without a hint of artificial edge. The body of orchestral sound, with no suggestion of meagre, squeezed phrasing from the strings will, no doubt, put this disc out of court for the authentic lobby, and perhaps it is a genuine criticism that the sound overall is a shade too ample. But how did a Mozart concerto sound in a resonant acoustic in Mozart's own time? We simply don't know, and the conjectural approaches vary a great deal.
I greatly enjoyed the account of K459 which RG (rightly) described as captivating. With over an hour of music offered, Compact Disc collectors should not be disappointed with this, although there are stronger versions of K482 available.
IM