Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K466

“[Uchida is] subtle and highly polished, never drawing attention to her virtuosity and erring on the side of understatement....Despite the profound intimacy with which she imbues both concertos, there is passion too when required...I cannot recall hearing these works performed with this degree of intimacy and subtlety.” International Record Review, March 2011

“Nothing could be more tenderly touching than No 27’s slow movement...the Cleveland Orchestra (directed from the keyboard) brood and explode on cue.” The Times, 12th February 2011 ***

“Decades after she first recorded these concertos with the English Chamber Orchestra, Uchida is recording them again, this time with the Cleveland Orchestra. All the things that made the first recording treasurable are there: the pearly, immaculate tone, the needlepoint precision, the graceful phrasing. The orchestra, too, is on terrific form.” The Telegraph, 11th February 2011 ****

“where others opt for Beethovenian struggle [in K466], she conveys, to a degree unmatched in my experience, a sense of sorrow, an almost harrowing sadness, underlining the tragedy of the work without vitiating its drama. This she does with a probing subtlety that defies concise description and sets this interpretation apart from any other known to me.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2011 *****

“[Uchida is] capable of eliciting a kaleidoscope of moods and orchestral colours...[her] poignant and beautifully expressive performance is beautifully balanced by the orchestra's illuminating accompaniment...Wonderfully fluent and effortlessly brilliant from orchestra and soloist.” Classic FM Magazine, April 2011 *****

“Lyrical, lively, texturally translucent and rhythmically buoyant, Kissin here [in k595] conveys that elusive universality that makes Mozart unique in history.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2010 ***/*

“[Kissin] keeps the ensemble tight and tidy...there are some wonderful moments like the magically handled return to the main subject after the stormy central section of the D minor's Andante, and the finale of K595 takes flight with Kissin producing his most sparkling playing” Gramophone Magazine, September 2010

“This performance of [K595] is hard to fault: there is a fabulous purity of tone, most especially in the slow movement, while the first movement is beautifully pointed from the very start...Kissin continues in a similarly effortless relaxed vein, colouring the sudden modulations in the development without mannerism or affectation.” International Record Review, October 2010

“Evgeny Kissin, in his first recording as both pianist and conductor, gives stylish performances of these two highly contrasting concertos, and has also, seemingly, mastered the far from easy art of directing from the keyboard.The interplay between the soloist and the Kremerata Baltica...is finely managed” Sunday Times, 22nd August 2010 ****

“[Kissin] reminds us that Mozart can withstand bold, meaty playing, with tempi slower, textures heavier and climaxes more expansive than most pianists now dare...these accounts, with passionate support from the Kremerata Baltica, remind you of a performance tradition that has all but disappeared.” The Observer, 1st August 2010

“...the more muscular and stormy Mozart’s music, the more Kissin’s engagement rises. Tension crackles. Phrasing becomes taut...Yet his restraint in itself is no drawback. Both concertos are notably pensive, at times agitated: Kissin simply makes the shadows linger longer.” The Times, 30th July 2010 ***

“In Leif Ove Andsnes's hands the D minor Concerto K466 is every bit as demonic as it ought to be, and he's greatly helped by fine playing from the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, with its trumpets cutting through the texture to thrilling effect.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2008 *****

“…his enviably natural, unforced clarity and musicianship shine through every bar and subtle ambiguity. Very much primus inter pares, Andsnes's sense of give and take as both soloist and director of the Norwegian Chamer Orchestra is as remarkable as his unfailing musical grace.” Gramophone Magazine, April 2008

“After this first foray, Mr. Andsnes may get pressure from Mozart lovers to record them all…his stylish accounts of these concertos are among the most revelatory Mozart records of the year.” New York Times

10/10 CD review

“These performances now seem a bit overpowering, in the wrong way, with the young pianist-conductor underlining and over-phrasing, though he was to get much worse later. Excellent accompanying.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2006 ***