Manchester Camerata - Mozart: Piano Concertos, Vol. 10 - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The three concertos featured on this album were composed together in 1782 / 83 - shortly after Mozart had left his patron and position in Salzburg to establish himself as a freelance composer and performer in Vienna. The concertos were all performed by the composer in a series of subscription concerts that he gave in the city. All share the same form - opening movement in sonata form, slow movement in ternary form, and a bright rondo finale. Despite these similarities, though, each piece has it's own distinct character and identity; such was the extent of Mozart's genius for invention. Although formally scored for strings with wind, horns, trumpets, and timpani, Mozart also offered them to his to be performed 'a quatro' - for strings only. These would be the last concertos he wrote in which this would be possible, and it is certainly likely that it reflected a need to earn greater income as opposed to being a purely artistic decision. As in the rest of this series, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet is joined by the Manchester Camerata and Gábor Takács-Nagy, who open the album with a dazzling performance of the Overture to Die Entführung aus dem Serail, which dates from the same period.

Charles Trenet - Vol. 3-Integrale Edition/Boum 1937-1941 [COMPACT DISCS] date 10/06/2003

Volume 8 of Jean-Efflam Bavouzet's survey of Mozart's piano concertos with Gábor Takács-Nagy and Manchester Camerata features two late concertos - Nos 26 and 27 - along with the overtures to Così fan tutte, Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), and La clemenza di Tito. Concerto No. 26, the 'Coronation', was completed in 1788, premièred in Dresden, and then played at the coronation of Leopold II as Holy Roman Emperor, in Frankfurt, on 15 October 1790. As Mozart did not prepare the score for publication, large sections of the left hand were left blank in the manuscript score. It's not known who created the part for the first printed edition, although this has been widely accepted ever since. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet has created his own version for this recording. Mozart premièred his final piano concerto, No. 27, in Vienna on 4 March 1791, in his last public performance. The album was recorded in Manchester's Stoller Hall, Bavouzet playing a Yamaha CFX nine-foot Concert Grand Piano