Siegbert Rampe embarks on a Mozart cycle that aims to match each work with a different keyboard instrument of the composer’s time. The fortepiano takes center stage in a brooding, highly ornamented account of the C minor Fantasia and Sonata, characterized by Rampe’s stinging accents, wide dynamic contrasts, and impulsive tempo adjustments. Rampe’s volatile, loosely-knit style makes a rhapsodic impression that markedly differs from Andreas Staier’s firmer, line-oriented classicism. However, the latter qualities inform Rampe’s forthright dispatch of the G major K. 283 sonata, where the central Andante transpires at an unorthodox Allegro that may not suit all tastes. Unfortunately, the overresonant engineering wraps Rampe’s excellent harpsichord technique within a blurry halo.
The sonatas bracket a group of miniatures dating from Mozart’s boyhood that sound marvelous on the clavichord. Here Rampe puts the instrument’s vibrato capacity to subtle, ear-tickling use. Perhaps his embellishments are a bit self-aware and “mature” for such innocent music, but they’re effected with tasteful wit, and I’m certain Mozart would have understood. Will Volume 2 prove equally unpredictable and fascinating? Only Siegbert Rampe knows for sure…
