The phenomenal Angela Hewitt embarks upon another Hyperion journey, this time through the piano concertos of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
The twenty-seven concertos for piano and orchestra contain some of the composer’s greatest achievements. Concertos Nos 6 and 8, two of the young Mozart’s earliest attempts at the genre, display a perfection of form and an elegant purity. Concerto No 9, the ‘Jeunehomme’, remarkably written in 1777 when Mozart was 21, is considered to be the composer’s first great masterpiece. The result of this creative outburst was a monument of musical originality and inventive orchestration. As the American critic Michael Steinberg aptly put it, in this concerto ‘Mozart, so to speak, became Mozart’.
In these interpretations Angela Hewitt displays her characteristic elegance and innate musicality. She is supported by the impeccably refined playing of the Orchestra da Camera di Mantova and the disc includes a personal and illuminating note by the pianist.
Mozart: Piano Concerto #6 In B Flat, K 238 - 1. Allegro Aperto
Mozart: Piano Concerto #6 In B Flat, K 238 - 2. Andante Un Poco Adagio
Mozart: Piano Concerto #6 In B Flat, K 238 - 3. Rondeau: Allegro
Mozart: Piano Concerto #8 In C, K 246, "Lützow" - 1. Allegro Aperto
Mozart: Piano Concerto #8 In C, K 246, "Lützow" - 2. Andante
Mozart: Piano Concerto #8 In C, K 246, "Lützow" - 3. Rondeau: Tempo Di Menuetto
Mozart: Piano Concerto #9 In E Flat, K 271, "Jeunehomme" - 1. Allegro
Mozart: Piano Concerto #9 In E Flat, K 271, "Jeunehomme" - 2. Andantino
Mozart: Piano Concerto #9 In E Flat, K 271, "Jeunehomme" - 3. Rondeau: Presto
December 2011
***
“Hewitt plays what sound to be an early piano and is accompanied by a small, orchestra, vibrato-less and rather bleak, which she conducts. I found her playing tasteful without being distinctive”
December 2011
***
“Hewitt controls one of the lively Favioli pianos she favours to produce a suitably light, airy touch that compliments those aspects of the works' character”
November 2011
“Concertmaster Carlo Fabiani doesn't simply lead his forces mechanically; he gives meaning and expressive weight to the orchestration, Angela Hewitt the experience of valuable thought and feeling. The slow movement...is an example of how she thinks and feels. Instantly noticeable is her strong left hand, varying the intensity and accentuation of the triplets...something profound, as you'd expect of her - and get.”
6th October 2011
****
“Hewitt directs the performances from the keyboard; with the piano well forward of the orchestra in the sound picture, her playing is typically crisp, and occasionally perhaps a bit too brisk, though its attention to detail is immaculate”
25th September 2011
“it's going to be a journey as revelatory as her exploration of all the major keyboard works of Bach. Hewitt is also a violinist and so brings elegant yet practical intuition to her direction; much of her keyboard articulation, for instance, imitates string-bowing. She is joined in this exciting new endeavour by the fleet-footed Orchestra Da Camera di Mantova, who share her attention to stylistic detail.”
Click on any of the works listed above for alternative recordings.
Mozart: Piano Concerto #6 In B Flat, K 238 - 1. Allegro Aperto
