Mozart: Piano Concertos 13 & 14 – review

Widely praised for her interpretations of Chopin, Janina Fialkowska here returns to the chamber versions of Mozart piano concertos, continuing a series she began with Nos 11 and 12. Again we hear intimate Mozart, rescored by the composer for household use, in the hope that the Viennese enthusiasm for domestic string playing would win him new devotees and make him some money. Fialkowska's refined delicacy suits this arrangement admirably, forcing us to revisit the music afresh and listen again to the clean lines of accompaniment delineated so strikingly by string quartet and double bass. It's so arresting that it seems unnecessary to add yet another recording of the string serenade in G (Eine kleine Nachtmusik) as a make-weight.