MDG Gold  940 1562-6

Stereo/Multichannel Hybrid

Classical - Orchestral

Mozart: Piano Concerto in D major K.175, Piano Concerto in C major K.246, Piano Concerto in A major K.488

Christian Zacharias (piano)
Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne


Double Feature
Our complete recording of Mozart’s piano compositions with Christian Zacharias in a double role as pianist and conductor of the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra continues with KV 488, certainly the most-performed piano concerto by the great Salzburg composer, complemented here by KV 246 and KV 175, Mozart’s very first piano concerto.

Creative Property
Mozart himself regarded his first piano concerto of December 1773 as a gem. Five years later he continued to enjoy great success with it in Mannheim “because here it pleases quite well,“ as he proudly reported to his father. And even at his Vienna academies of 1782-83 the concerto still figured significantly for him. When he sent its new finale, the Rondo (KV 382), to his father, he wrote, “I made it especially for me, and nobody but my dear sister can play it after me.”

Interpretive Misappropriation
Mozart in any case always viewed the interpretation of his works by third parties with skepticism and criticism. He was especially hard on Abbé Vogler, who played the Concerto in C major (KV 246) in Mannheim in 1778. He expressed his dismay as follows in a letter to his father: “Before the table he did a sloppy prima vista job on my concerto. The first piece was prestissimo, the andante was allegro, and the rondeau was really prestississimo. He played the bass mostly otherwise as written, and sometimes he did an entirely different harmony and melody too.”

Special Perfection
Christian Zacharias and his Lausanne musicians certainly would not have been given such a dressing down. On this recording the very special appeal lent by these award-winning interpreters in particular to the frequently performed Concerto in A major (KV 488) very clearly brings out the individual effect of this work instrumented with clarinets instead of oboes and entirely without timpani and trumpets.