This DG Concerts Download release of the July 2, 2006 all-Mozart concert from the Styriarte Festival in Graz, Austria offers warm-hearted, graceful Mozart performances, featuring thoughtful, ingratiating solo playing by Pierre-Laurent Aimard in the two concertos. Undoubtedly those in attendance would have been very happy as they left the concert hall that evening. And it’s all captured in warm, detailed sound by Radio Austria. However, as with many other recordings in which the soloist conducts from the keyboard, there is a spark missing from the orchestra’s contribution. The Chamber Orchestra of Europe plays at its usual high level of proficiency, but without a corresponding feeling of commitment to the music. Further, Aimard does nothing distinctive when he takes the podium to conduct the symphony.
So, aside from the rare encore tribute to recently-deceased composer György Ligeti, we’re left with another disappointing instance where a major classical label dispenses a merely “very good” duplication of repertoire that exists elsewhere in superlative accounts–not least in its own catalogue.
Nevertheless, there are postive aspects to having this concert preserved and available in the download medium. It documents the evolution of an outstanding pianist in mid-career; and it’s a relative bargain–$9.99 (as of November, 2006) from Apple’s iTunes for nearly 90 minutes of music. And of course the production, recorded by Austrian Radio, was inexpensive for DG, an attractive prospect that hopefully will encourage many more such offerings–although at this early stage in the development of classical concert downloads, we can only hope that labels and orchestras will focus more on truly great performances and unusual or under-recorded repertoire–something with unique value–rather than more predictable and endlessly duplicated fare.
