Mozart: Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, K478

“For freshness, insight and sheer beauty of tone and phrase, this new disc takes the palm … it’s pure joy” BBC Music Magazine

“It is in fact clear from the opening that this is a performance to reckon with, exemplified by its careful measured tempo, its poise and its subtle handling of the balance between strings and piano. A real winner, this disc; warmly recommended” Gramophone Magazine

“These are deeply musical performances, perceptive and satisfying, of two masterpieces” International Record Review

‘For freshness, insight and sheer beauty of tone and phrase, this new disc takes the palm … it’s pure joy from first to last and I urge you to add it to your shelves’ (BBC Music Magazine)

“These are unusually expansive works, their first movements each close on 15 minutes' music, prolific in their thematic matter and richly developed. They demand playing that shows a grasp of their scale, playing that makes plain to the listener the shape, the functional character of the large spans of the music.
Paul Lewis and the Leopold String Trio, playing on modern instruments, excel in this, with their feeling for its structure and its tension, particularly in the first movement of the G minor, and especially at its great climax at the end of the development section, which is delivered with a compelling power and a sense of its logic. This performance is exemplified by its carefully measured tempo, its poise and its subtle handling of the balance between strings and piano. The Andante is unhurried, allowing plenty of time for expressive detail; and the darker colours within the finale, for all its G major good cheer, are there too.
The spacious and outgoing E flat work is no less sympathetically done, with plenty of feeling for its special kind of broad lyricism; particularly attractive are the gently springy rhythms and the tenderness of the string phrasing in the first movement, and Lewis's beautifully shaped phrasing in the Larghetto. A real winner, this disc: warmly recommended.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Brendel is the lynchpin here, and, as ever, balances heart and mind with innate good taste.
Time and again you find yourself overhearing detail that might otherwise have passed for nothing: every modulation tells; every phrase of dialogue has been polished, pondered and carefully considered. And yet it is a dialogue, with the loose-limbed Thomas Zehetmair leading his supremely accomplished colleagues through Schubert's delightful five-tier structure.
The Scherzo and Allegro giusto frolic within the bounds of propriety (some will favour an extra shot of animal vigour), whereas the first, second and fourth movements are rich in subtle – as opposed to fussy – observations.
The recording, too, is exceedingly warm, with only the occasional want of inner detail to bar unqualified enthusiasm. Philips, as ever, achieves a well-rounded, almost tangible piano tone.
Mozart's G minor Quartet makes for an unexpected, though instructive, coupling, following the Trout. Here again there's much to learn and enjoy, especially in terms of phrasal dovetailing and elegant articulation (Brendel's opening flourish is a model of Mozartian phrase-shaping).
Still, you may sometimes crave rather more in the way of Sturm und Drang – a fiercer, more muscular attack, most especially in the first movement. Yet there will be times when the conceptual unity and executive refinement of this performance – its articulate musicality – will more than fit the bill. Both works include their respective first movement repeats.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“The selling point here is that Sir Georg Solti is the pianist. He must have spent far more time conducting than playing the piano, but he needs few excuses for he is very able, indeed at times brilliant” Gramophone Magazine