This little recording by pianists
Ivo Varbanov
and
Fiammetta Tarli
came, if not out of nowhere, at least without the benefit of major-label promotional muscle, to land on classical best-seller charts in the summer of 2024. It has, indeed, many virtues, beginning with the
Steingräber
Phoenix pianos used by the performers. In their words, their "higher register sounds much more mellow and therefore perhaps a hint closer to how period instruments would have sounded..." These are combined with exceptionally smooth, fluent playing by
Varbanov
Tarli
, who are married and have long experience as a duo piano act. They say that "thanks to the less aggressive tone" of the pianos, many details of
Mozart
's "experimental" piano writing come to light, and this claim is defensible and is also descriptive of the playing as well as the instruments themselves. The
Sonata for two pianos in D major, K. 448
, loses some of its normal symphonic quality in a graceful, fresh reading. Most impressive of all is the
Concerto for three pianos in F major, K. 242
, heard here in the 1780 two-piano version by
himself. This is
at his most confectionary, and rare is the performance that fully captures its lightness. The precision of interplay between the performers is also evident in the bigger
Concerto in E flat major for two pianos, K. 365
.
also note that they like the "natural sound of large recording spaces," and here they used Henry Wood Hall in London and Menuhin Hall in Stoke d'Abernon; both are larger spaces than
would have known, but the airy acoustic fits the smooth performances here. In all, this is a performance whose various aspects are not only novel but well integrated, and it is an unusually satisfying
release. ~ James Manheim