The series of Mozart piano concertos issued by pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet and the Manchester Camerata under Gábor Takács-Nagy has rightfully garnered critical praise and strong sales, and this release, the sixth in the set, may be as good a place to start as any. It is not that Bavouzet does anything that radical. The orchestra, consisting of modern instruments, is pared down a bit from the full-symphony readings of the past, and the wind parts in the two concertos here, representing a real creative breakthrough on Mozart ...
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The series of Mozart piano concertos issued by pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet and the Manchester Camerata under Gábor Takács-Nagy has rightfully garnered critical praise and strong sales, and this release, the sixth in the set, may be as good a place to start as any. It is not that Bavouzet does anything that radical. The orchestra, consisting of modern instruments, is pared down a bit from the full-symphony readings of the past, and the wind parts in the two concertos here, representing a real creative breakthrough on Mozart's part, emerge clearly. It is here that listeners can experience some of the strongest engineering work Chandos has offered in quite a while, working in Manchester's superb Stoller Hall. Sample the melancholy slow movement of the Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K. 488, with its layers of burnished wind tones. Bavouzet's passagework in the exuberant finale is as clean as it gets, and here and elsewhere, he is self-effacing, letting the music speak for itself. It's quite a shift...
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