Mozart: Double Concerto / Piano Concerto No. 27 / Sonata for 2 Pianos, K. 365,448,595

This is a record to warm the heart and buoy the spirit: the music is intoxicatingly beautiful and the performances do it full justice. The two Concertos, with Barenboim taking the upper part in the Double, were recorded live at a Promenade Concert in 1979, the Sonata at Aldeburgh in 1960; all have the spontaneity, and the minor imperfections, of unretouched public performances. Curzon’s famous simplicity, directness, and inwardness of expression are everywhere in evidence: the tone sings, the pacing is judicious, the phrasing elegant, every note counts, every detail is lovingly caressed, every transition and modulation is poised just right. The concertos’ fast movements are gracious, leisurely, humorous, mischievous; in the Double, which Mozart wrote for himself and his sister, the interplay is joyous and fraternal, and his last and perhaps greatest piano concerto could not be nobler or more profound. The sonata is bright, brilliant, and joyful; the slow movement is delicate yet sonorous; the phrasing like human speech. The ensemble radiates mutual admiration and pleasure in the collaboration. –Edith Eisler