It is always a risk to bring a contemporary composer together with Mozart. In the recording we listen to, that is actually no different. The difference in style is already a problem in itself and then yes, the exceptional quality of the compositions. Who matches Mozart, especially in our days when so very little comparison is possible? Your reviewer continues to have a hard time with it…
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) you listen on this recording to his concerto for two pianos KV 365, performed by Margarite Höhenrieder and Antti Sijrala, accompanied by the Wiener Concert Verein under the direction of William Garfield Walker. A dream of a composition, written by a Mozart who seems carefree, looks at the beautiful and if that is not 'beautiful' enough? Then he makes sure to make it all rosier with this magnificent concerto.
The piano playing does not entirely enchant me and neither does the orchestra. It remains a generally professional performance where true depth tends to stay flat and much is played angularly. All the notes stand too loose from each other. The piano enters hard and then transitions into friendliness, but everything still remains loose, no coherence. You have to love it. The entire concerto is performed in the same way. May I doubt whether this is really Mozartian?
After those last harmonious Mozart notes you suddenly get bandoneon with orchestra in stressful sounds, where the piano enters somewhat aggressively. From a tango I expect something different. You cannot really dance to this work unless it is a chaotic choreography. Tango op. 261 "Cristian en el Tortoni Buenes Aires" by Francoise Choveaux (°1953) is too complex to simply be called a tango. It is, as too often with contemporary work, too far-fetched. There is no spontaneity and I really struggle with that. It is almost an anticlimax compared to the Mozart concerto. Well, perhaps the problem lies with me? Was it not a sister of mine who said: "You are a conservative little man" when it comes to the Fine Arts in general and music in particular? Uhm…