As with his splendid Hänssler release devoted to Haydn keyboard concertos, pianist Gerrit Zitterbart again applies his stylish sensitivity to a trio of early Mozart concertos. The performances easily rank with the finest recordings of these works now available. Although Zitterbart plays on a top-of-the-line Bösendorfer Imperial Grand, he takes subtle advantage of his instrument’s plangent, unhomogenized timbres that suggest a fortepiano’s registral differentiation. In turn, Thomas Fey’s Schlierbacher Kammerorchester proves that the gaunt and tart sonorities characterizing period instrument ensembles can be achieved with arguably more flexible results on modern instruments, although Fey uses natural horns instead of their stabler modern counterparts. The conductor, to be certain, doesn’t entirely avoid those self-conscious dynamic swells that are as mannered today as string portamentos were in the late 19th century, yet he doesn’t make a habit of them. More importantly, you sense that conductor and pianist are perpetually engaged in playful dialogue, responding to each other’s phrases as a pair of old friends might pick up each other’s sentences in midair. There’s just enough ornamentation to keep the listener on guard (catch Zitterbart’s cute little turns at the outset of the E-flat concerto’s Rondo theme), but never more than necessary. You never can get enough Mozart from vibrant, caring musicians like these; is more on the way? [1/13/2002]
