Mozart's progress from child prodigy to mature brilliance, from innocent insight to inspired innovation, is measured out in his piano music. Somm's survey of six works for one, two and three pianos brilliantly charts both his phenomenal development and his far-reaching transformation of the concerto form. Two of today's finest, most accomplished and admired pianists - Valerie Tryon and Peter Donohoe - bring unrivalled experience to bear in impeccable, incisive and illuminating accounts of the solo and duo works. The young, fast-rising Mishka Rushdie Momen joins them for the discretely dazzling Piano Concerto No.7 for three pianos. Three other concertos are featured. Composed for Mozart's sister, Nannerl, the two-piano No.10 is a playful but challenging exercise in sibling rivalry. A favorite of Beethoven's, No.20 is marked by a dark-hued drama and broiling emotional turbulence banished by it's surprise sunny ending. Famously, it prompted Haydn to tell Mozart's father, "Your son is the greatest composer whom I know in person or by reputation". The Piano Concerto No.21 is distinguished by it's melodic directness, guileless wit and the balletic interaction between piano and orchestra, it's meltingly lyrical Andante popularised by it's use in the 1967 film Elvira Madigan and American pop star Neil Diamond's 1972 chart hit, Song Sung Blue. Echoing the galant style of the Seventh Piano Concerto, the ebullient, lyrical and bright Sonata for Two Pianos in D pulls and pushes the focus between the two instruments in music of delightfully genial resourcefulness. Composed a year later, the Fantasia in C minor for solo piano boasts a cornucopia of mesmerising effects as it spins the piano line into altogether idiomatic flights of dark-toned fantasy richly realised by Valerie Tryon.

Tracklist:

Piano Concerto No. 20 In D Minor, K. 466: I. Allegro
Piano Concerto No. 20 In D Minor, K. 466: II. Romance
Piano Concerto No. 20 In D Minor, K. 466: III. Allegro Assai
Piano Concerto No. 21 In C Major, K. 467 "Elvira Madigan": I. Allegro Maestoso
Piano Concerto No. 21 In C Major, K. 467 "Elvira Madigan": II. Andante
Piano Concerto No. 21 In C Major, K. 467 "Elvira Madigan": III. Allegro Vivace Assai
Fantasia In C Minor, K. 396 (Arr. & Completed By M. Stadler For Piano)
Concerto For 2 Pianos In E-Flat Major, K. 365: I. Allegro
Concerto For 2 Pianos In E-Flat Major, K. 365: II. Andante
Concerto For 2 Pianos In E-Flat Major, K. 365: III. Allegro
Sonata For 2 Pianos In D Major, K. 448: I. Allegro Con Spirito
Sonata For 2 Pianos In D Major, K. 448: II. Andante
Sonata For 2 Pianos In D Major, K. 448: III. Allegro Molto
Concerto For 3 Pianos In F Major, K. 242 "Lodron": I. Allegro
Concerto For 3 Pianos In F Major, K. 242 "Lodron": II. Adagio
Concerto For 3 Pianos In F Major, K. 242 "Lodron": III. Rondeau. Tempo Di Menuetto

UPC: 748871326828
Label: Somm Recordings
Release Date: 4.6.18
Format: CD

Mozart / Tryon / Royal Philharmonic Orch - Piano Concertos (2 CD)