Mozart: Piano Concertos 21 & 22 (biss)

Jonathan Biss, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra

Mozart: Piano Concerto no.21 in C, K467; Mozart : Piano Concerto no.22 in E flat, K482

In an overcrowded field of Mozart piano concertos there has to be a very good reason to issue new performances, particularly of the very popular 21st, dubbed “Elvira Madigan” since the 1967 film. The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra of New York enjoys a most enviable reputation as a first class ensemble that plays without conductor. They are known for well thought out, flawlessly balanced and musically integrated performances but I did not expect that their contributions of these two concertos would clearly be the best I have heard in these works. Beautiful phrasing and a conversational ‘attitude’ between the instruments add an operatic anticipatory flavour, wherein the listener hangs on every note. The career of the young American pianist, Jonathan Biss, whom we heard on a fine Schumann CD, is in rapid ascent and he has appeared with leading orchestras and conductors in North America and abroad. In these live performances Biss displays elegance and authority, yet I couldn’t overlook a touch of nervousness in K467 but perhaps it may have been intentional. He settles well into the rest of the concerto and throughout the K482 where he exhibits and conveys a genuine Mozartian spirit, completely dovetailing with the orchestra. Of course they must have rehearsed, but the two performances sound charmingly spontaneous. The acoustic of the Lefrak Concert Hall in Queen’s University NYC proves ideal. Reviewed by Bruce Surtees. Reprinted from The Wholenote Magazine (www.thewholenote.com), Nov. 2008.
The young, articulate and passionate American pianist, Jonathan Biss, an exclusive artist for EMI Classics, returns with his much anticipated fourth album for the label featuring Mozart’s Piano Concerti Nos. 21 and 22. Jonathan is joined by the Grammy®-Award winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, internationally renowned for its fine artistry and distinctive approach to music-making. It is commonly said that if one wished to learn everything there is to know about Mozart, but could only study a single type of composition, the best choice would be the piano concerto. In this one area, Mozart produced twenty-seven pieces, more piano concerti than any other composer. His 21st and 22nd appeared in the latter part of his career and were composed in the same year. Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.21 in C is one of the great and most well-known of his 27 piano concerti. It is also considered among the most technically demanding of all Mozart's concerti. Indeed, Leopold Mozart once described it as "astonishingly difficult". Mozart was a gifted improviser and it is said that he preferred not to write out the solo cadenzas, deciding instead to improvise them on the spot. Though most of Mozart’s cadenzas have survived, Nos. 20 and No 21, have not. Jonathan has decided to play all his own cadenzas except for the last movement of K467, where he plays Dinu Lipatti's.