CDs seldom manage to
accommodate more than two concertos,
earlier pieces excepted: and couplings
more often than not pair more-or-less
contemporary pieces. So why these two
particular concertos?
K415 (No. 13) is one
of the three concertos written as a
group in 1783, the others being K413
(No. 11) in F major and K414 (No. 12)
in A major. In fact all three do
fit on a single disc! These days, they
tend to be performed with orchestral
strings, or with solo strings - a ‘Piano
Quintet’ - as sanctioned by Mozart,
but seldom with the optional but colourful
wind parts. Flute, oboes, bassoons,
horns, and (in K415 only) trumpets and
drums are available, but dispensable
- contributing as they do only weight
and colour, but with no thematic role.
K537 (No. 26) is a
much later piece - only five years later,
it is true, but much had happened in
those intervening years! It coincidentally
shares with K415 a frankly rather colourless
orchestration, in which wind instruments
seldom take a significant part in the
musical argument. So none of precious
piano-wind dialogue you get in virtually
all of its 1784-91 neighbours, and everything
of interest in either the 1st violins
or the soloist’s right hand! It’s a
problematical piece in other respects,
written as it was in great haste, and
containing much shorthand - missing
left-hand parts, and naked right-hand
lines which, based on Mozart’s known
practice, not least in other more fully
notated pieces, we can be sure the composer
would have developed and embellished
in performance.
So a semi-serious answer
to my question ("why these two
particular concertos?") is that
these two pieces offer nothing of real
interest to wind players! Happily and,
as I’ve said, unusually Kirschnereit
and Beerman include the optional wind
and brass parts in K415, which creates
a much more lively and robust orchestral
sonority, and sets the scene for the
piano’s first entry admirably.
Both orchestra and
pianist play well on this disc, which
is also very well recorded. That’s about
as far as I’m able to go, I’m afraid.
Take just about any alternative, and
you’ll find - in Brendel, Uchida, Perahia,
Schiff or Brendel - more precise shaping
and subtler shading of material, with
greater variety and more compelling
characterisation, especially in rapid
passagework. Similarly, Perahia’s or
Uchida’s English Chamber Orchestra;
Schiff’s Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra;
Brendel’s Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields
or Scottish Chamber Orchestra; or Goode’s
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra - all of these
deliver more accuracy and delicacy,
sacrificing nothing in the way of masculinity,
than the Bamberg players do on this
disc. These are worthy and serviceable
second-division performances which,
good though they are, just miss the
boat.
In short, if you’re
‘dipping’ into the Mozart concertos,
you could definitely do better than
these two pieces. And, if you’re building
up a collection, you’d need to be penniless
or pretty desperate for this oddball
coupling to make out a good case for
this recording over its multitudinous
competitors.
Peter J Lawson
Matthias Kirschnereit (piano) 
