Mozart: Piano Concertos K242, K315f, K365

by Robert Levin, Laurence Cummings, Ya-Fei Chuang, Academy of Ancient Music

Overview

This is volume 11 of a Mozart piano concerto series instigated in the 1990s by the then-conductor of the Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood. The series foundered due to lack of funds but was revived during the COVID-19 pandemic. The massive booklet, well worth the money for physical album buyers, tells the whole story and includes essays on the performers here, the immediate history of these Mozart works, one on the later history of the concerto for multiple instruments, and even one on artist Paul Klee's interest in music (a little tribute to Hogwood), and more. The central figure is pianist Robert Levin, a Mozart specialist whose ways with the composer are nothing if not controversial. Those who have heard Levin before will not be unaware of what they are getting into here. He injects a substantial element of improvisation in the form of ornamentation and genuinely improvised cadenzas, presumably as Mozart would have done. Levin even disregards Mozart's explicit instructions in the Concerto for two pianos in F major, K. 242; he uses just one piano for a continuo part where Mozart specifies both. Listeners must decide for themselves what they think of all this, but no one can accuse Levin of supplying a superfluous new version of Mozart nor of being boring in the least. There is also a new piece, an unfinished Concerto movement for piano, violin, and orchestra, K. Anh. 56, in a completion by Levin. In the F major concerto (played in its rarer reworked two-piano version by Mozart, rather than in the original for three pianos), and in the Piano Concerto No. 10 in E flat major, K. 365, Levin is joined by pianist Ya-Fei Chuang, to whom he is married; violinist Bojan Cicic appears in the unfinished concerto, and the conductor of the Academy of Ancient Music is Laurence Cummings. The music is played on historical instruments at A = 430 Hz, just slightly flatter than modern concert pitch. One looks forward to seeing what innovations are coming in Mozart's later concertos. This album landed on classical best-seller lists in the autumn of 2023. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	11/03/2023
Label:	ACADEMY OF ANCIENT
UPC:	5060340150174

Tracks

1. Concerto No. 7 for Two Pianos and Orchestra in F major K242~I. Allegro
2. Concerto No. 7 for Two Pianos and Orchestra in F major K242~II. Adagio
3. Concerto No. 7 for Two Pianos and Orchestra in F major K242~III. Rondo. Tempo di minuetto
4. Concerto Movement for Piano, Violin and Orchestra in D major KAnh56 (315f)
5. Concerto No. 10 for Two Pianos and Orchestra in E-flat major K365 (316a)~I. Allegro
6. Concerto No. 10 for Two Pianos and Orchestra in E-flat major K365 (316a)~II. Andante
7. Concerto No. 10 for Two Pianos and Orchestra in E-flat major K365 (316a)~III. Rondo. Allegro

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Robert Levin   Primary Artist,Piano,Completion,Fortepiano
Laurence Cummings   Primary Artist,Conductor
Ya-Fei Chuang   Primary Artist,Piano,Fortepiano
Academy of Ancient Music   Primary Artist,Orchestra
Bojan Cicic   Violin

Technical Credits

Luis Emilio Rodriguez   Instrument Design
Jacob Ford   Instrument Design
Matt Martin   Instrument Design
Brian Tunnicliffe   Instrument Design
Edward Dodd   Instrument Design
Johann Carl Kloz   Instrument Design
Mark Allan   Photography
Nicholas Perry   Instrument Design
Neil Hutchinson   Engineer,Mixing Engineer,Mastering Engineer
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart   Composer
Marc van Wageningen   Keyboard Technician
Adrian Peacock   Editing,Producer
Benjamin Ealovega   Photography
S.L. Chai   Layout Design
Paul Klee   Cover Image
Simone Canetty-Clarke   Photography
Johann Georg Thir   Instrument Design
Clive Barda   Photography
Andreas Jungwirth   Instrument Design
John Hanchet   Instrument Design
Bojan Cicic   Leader
Martin Hilsden   Instrument Design
Willibrord Crijnen   Instrument Design
Cliff Eisen   Liner Notes
Alfredo Bernardini   Instrument Design
Robert Vanryne   Instrument Design
Pieter de Koningh   Instrument Design
Nick Rutter   Photography
Giovanni Grancino   Instrument Design
Jan Pawlikowski   Instrument Design
Thomas Smith   Instrument Design
William Forster   Instrument Design
Richard Bratby   Liner Notes
John McMunn   Liner Notes
Niccolo Gagliano   Instrument Design
Paul Orriols   Instrument Design
Emma Alter   Instrument Design
Francesco Ruggieri   Instrument Design
Martin Wenner   Instrument Design
Joel Raymond   Instrument Design
Tim Richards   Instrument Design
Eric Mawbey   Instrument Design
Benjamin Sheen   Cover Design,Label Manager,Booklet Editor
John Betts   Instrument Design
Ariane Todes   Interviewer
E. Hoffer   Instrument Design