Last
year's disc of early piano concertos from Israeli pianist David
Greilsammer and his New York-based Suedama Ensemble received praise in
these pages for performance and criticism for its close recorded sound
(11/08). This release, featuring two of the mature concertos, shows
that the sound is very much part of the concept for these musicians.
Greilsammer is an excellent pianist who attains high levels of tonal
delicacy and precision, and not only has he nothing to fear from the
proximity of microphones, his artistry is highlighted by it. As a
conductor, too, he shapes his orchestra with meticulous care, sculpting
phrases firmly but kindly and allowing the wind-writing - a major glory
of these works - to come through and hold the stage as it should. When
the slow minuet starts up in the finale of K482 it is as if old and
cherished friends are offering succour, an effect that would seem
unlikely from within the dreamy wash of sound this music is sometimes
subjected to.

Perhaps of all Mozart's concertos, it is K491 which is most often
presented to us as if through a veil of tears, but Greilsammer here
banishes sentimentality from the work while losing nothing in
expressive intensity. Dynamic contrasts such as in the first movement's
development, or the abruptly dispatched ending to the finale, are
dramatic without being hysterical, while the Larghetto is swift-moving yet graceful and dance-like; only the surprising perkiness of its closing bars seems inappropriately unfeeling.

Any doubts that Greilsammer can touch the soul, however, disappear at his strongly moving account of the Andante
of K482, with its ominous string phrases, pained piano yelps and warm
consolations from the winds. With imaginative cadenzas by Greilsammer
himself these intelligent and intimately detailed performances may not
be to all tastes but they are refreshing and revealing reminders of
these concertos' greatness none the less.

Lindsay Kemp