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Review by Beethovenfan January 18, 2011 (10 of 12 found this review helpful)
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This review is based on my love for Brautigam’s Beethoven SACD’s, for Brautigam live in Gent and for Mozart’s pianoconcertos. I compared with the recordings by Bilson/Gardiner, Levin/Hogwood, Van Immerseel/Van Immerseel and Sofronitsky/Karolak.
One always wonders if a new recording deserves a place besides these settled giants, if somebody can discover real new ways in this music to bring it to us as new and fresh. Well, this was the first thing that hit me immediately, these recordings come in your living room as very fresh and sparkling new !
The way these people make music is staggering. Brautigam translates Mozart’s notes to the instrument as if he discovered complete new phrases in the marriage between Mozart’s thoughts and the instrument. The music sings, dances, caresses, sparkles in an unbounded diversity of accents, speeds, colours, …and everything absolutely on the right place and moment. Of course we praise Mozart but the rest is Brautigam and the McNulty instrument.
But others are playing also on this disc, shame on me, I never heard Die Kölner Akademie and Michael Alexander Willens before but they placed themselves in one hearing between my top orchestras. A stunning self-confidence, a marvelous sound and just the same musical touch as Brautigam are enjoyable all over this disc. They have very beautiful sounding instruments (the strings and horns are irresistible).
The McNulty instrument is, as always, the right instrument on the right place, these instruments have a sound that never and nowhere gives the slightest reason to start criticism. I hope that some of the concertos will be played on a Stein replica. Sofronitsky and here McNulty’s make their box worth having.
Instrument and orchestra, the music and the players, all blend to a living Mozart ! All this gives us the best Mozart available (but I will keep the other boxes !).
The SACD-sound is just perfect !
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