In between installments of his large series of
Mozart
's and now
Haydn
's piano sonatas, fortepianist
Kristian Bezuidenhout
has periodically issued recordings of
concertos with the
Freiburger Barockorchester
. These reflect the keyboardist's usual high standards and use of one of several copies (by the Americo-Czech builder
Paul McNulty
) of instruments by the Viennese builder
Anton Walter
; they're impressive fortepianos with a bright, ringing top and a muscular lower register. The series has evolved a bit as it has developed, which is a good thing;
's playing of his concertos certainly evolved as well.
Bezuidenhout
has used conductor
Petra Müllejans
; for this pair of popular concertos (and on other albums) he conducts from the keyboard, which produces a tighter sound from the 23-player orchestra. This time around, he subtly inserts the piano into tutti passages, as if to play the role of timekeeper; this seems a bit random, but there is a certain amount of score evidence for what he's doing. If one thinks of the piano as part of a "continuo" group that was falling into disuse, it might have been added for emphasis. This fits into
's generally free approach to
, with contrasting tempos (the outer movements are decidedly on the fast side) and lots of ornamentation. As usual, one may like or dislike aspects of what
is doing, but there's no denying his general musicality, nor his ability to get fine playing out of the
Freiburgers
, whose pair of horns sound especially good this time around. This fine release made classical best-seller lists in the late autumn of 2024. ~ James Manheim