Alfred Brendel’s recent revisits to his discographic Mozartian past have yielded mixed results, and this release is no exception. In the K. 333 B-flat sonata, a warmer, more vocally informed countenance colors Brendel’s pianism in contrast to the tight-lipped squareness of earlier versions, especially in the first two movements. But Brendel moderately pegs through the Rondo with blinders on, still seemingly oblivious to the harmonic felicities borne out of the music’s comic-opera-like twists and turns. Nor am I turned on by the unsmiling sobriety with which Brendel treats the K. 332 F major, be it the mincing staccatos in the first movement hemiolas, or, in the Allegro Assai, the pianist’s stiff, machine-like runs and scales that prevent the music from taking wing.
Brendel’s tense, monochrome sonority plus an extra dose of nervous energy better suit the K. 457 C minor sonata’s tragic undercurrents in the outer movements. (Note that Brendel plays the Sonata by itself rather than preceding it with the C minor Fantasy K. 475). You’ll have to seek out other pianists, though, to get an inkling of the central Adagio movement’s yearning, songful character (my favorites include Mitsuko Uchida, Klara Würtz, Claudio Arrau, Ivan Moravec, and Lili Kraus). I’ve always liked Brendel’s headlong, direct, and classically posed view of the B minor Adagio, but this version surpasses its two predecessors for its inner strength and concentrated drama. The languid right hand phrases never droop under Brendel’s firm left hand underpinnings, while the pianist’s legato is less sustain-pedal-dependent than before. I’d be remiss if I didn’t also cite Misha Donat’s superb annotations.
