Maria Joao Pires - Mozart – The Great Concertos for Piano (5CD) (2008)

Reviewing classical music is a risky business - especially if one is not a musician (and I'm not). Personal preferences are often the most important factor in one's listening pleasure - such as the tempo one prefers. In many cases, the tempo one prefers is the one you listened to first - perhaps the record your parents played or the first record or CD version that you bought. That tempo is in your head, and when compared to other versions of the piece that you hear later in life, that tempo is the one that sounds "right" - regardless of what is written on the score. Another personal preference that one often encounters in classical reviews of piano concertos is whether the piano is prominent or whether the sound is more balanced. Personally, I like a more prominent piano - and that is the case in most of these concertos.

Starting with those two personal notes, if you are a fan of Pires, then this box set may be like finding a lost treasure! If this set had been available a few years ago, it would have saved me much time and effort (and probably money), as I wouldn't have had to search for old out-of-print versions of these performances, which (I think) are all from the 1970s. I never did find Concerto 9, and haven't heard Pires's version. As for the others, they are consistently high in quality.

In my opinion, the best performances are Concertos 12, 14, 20 and 21. All four of these are among the best that I have ever heard. I have only heard 3 or 4 versions of Concerto 14, but this is my definite favorite. I have heard perhaps 20 versions of Concerto no. 20 - and this may be my favorite, too! Both Concertos 12 and 21 are excellent also.

Concerto no. 17 is very well done, although some may find the 2nd movement a tad too slow. It is slower than the 4 or 5 other versions I have heard, but there is a very nice rapport between pianist and orchestra. The same can be said for Concerto 23 - an excellent performance, but perhaps a bit slower in the 2nd movement than you might be used to. If you like slow 2nd movements - these may be the performances for you!

Concerto 19 is also very well done, but I am personally distracted a bit by the orchestration - a section of the 2nd movement is played slightly differently than versions by Uchida, Perahia, and Serkin (with Szell). Haskill and Fricsay play it the way Pires does, too - so I can't say which way is correct! Concertos 13 and 26 are not among my favorites due to the orchestra being a bit too dominant in the horns. Both of these concertos are very well played by Pires, however.

Pires has recorded at least 7 of these concertos more recently - Nos. 14, 17, 20, 21, 26 and 27 with Abbado and 23 with Franz Bruggen - and in almost every case I prefer the older versions that appear here. Concerto 17 is the only exception - that concerto is beautifully played in both versions. Pires's new versions of almost all of these concertos have considerably faster 2nd movements, which is interesting (and they work well at these faster tempos), but all-in all the newer performances just don't seem as effective as these recordings. Not that they are bad by any means - they are well worth getting, too!

So, if you like Pires and Mozart - and like your fast movements played with a brisk tempo and your slow movements slow and sensitive - then this may be a great CD set for you!