MOZART ON A DIET

posted by James Reel

MOZART Piano Concertos: No. 11; No. 12 (chamber versions). String Quartet No. 4 * Janina Fialkowska (pn); Ch Players of Canada * ATMA SACD2 2531 (Hybrid multichannel SACD: 62:58)

The booklet photo is what looks to be a century-old photo of a girl, possibly hooded, grasping a large umbrella for balance and high-stepping across a tightrope. Perilous balance really has nothing to do with this release of Mozart’s own reduction for piano and string quartet of his K. 413 and 414 piano concerti. By the nature of the composition, the piano reigns supreme except in the tutti passages; these are, after all, concertos, not piano quintets (actually sextets; here, a double bass is added for welcome support at the bottom end). Yet these players treat the scores as chamber music as much as possible; the piano is placed behind the strings, recital style, rather than up front, concerto style (the placement is quite distinct, thanks to Atma’s superb DSD sonics). Soloist Janina Fialkowska is by no means reticent, but she feels no obligation to play forward; she’s happy to engage in interplay with the strings when Mozart allows it, and otherwise plays like a sonata soloist, without muscling through the score.

Compared to the great Mozart keyboard concertos that would soon follow these first efforts of his Viennese maturity, the items at hand can sound rather insubstantial in their standard orchestral garb; in this reduction, Mozart’s melodic felicities emerge to greater effect. (And there’s no reason to lament the loss of the original woodwind lines, which frankly aren’t as delectable as what Mozart would be producing just a few concertos hence.)

Mozart wrote the two concertos on this disc at the same time as K. 415, in 1783, and regarded them as an informal unit, designed to make a splash with the Viennese public, publicizing his own skills as a pianist and as a composer while also generating scores that could be published for the home market. It’s a shame, then, that these performers (or the label) fill out the disc with an early Mozart string quartet rather than the K. 415 concerto. The quartet is well-played, at least. The strings have warmth, and while there’s nothing impulsive or really intense in the playing of the quartet or the concertos, neither are these bland sight-reading sessions. The best word for these performances: gracious.

—James Reel