Maria João Pires, Claudio Abbado - Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 17 & 21 (1995) CD-Rip

This work is very hard to characterize emotionally, but it sighs and it sings enigmatically. Surprisingly, so many performances are very straightforward, never capturing these soulful, longing qualities that almost approach reverie at times. Not so this time. The interplay here is amazing, Pires' delicate approach is ideal for this music, and the conducting is elastic in that "Furtwanglerian" way. But don't get the impression this is bloated, Romantic Mozart...it's not. (Maybe Furtwangler wasn't the right name to evoke after all. Actually, no name is the right name to evoke. It's a unique statement, but what it shares in common with WF is the realization that certain sections breathe best at certain tempi, and the intellectual rigor and understanding to relate the different tempi and tensions organically to the whole, which Furtwangler had at his best.) Simply put, order this disc. It's from a live performance (though there's no trace of audience noise; DGs engineers are miracle-workers) and it has that special electricity and that feeling of an event that only a great live recording has. The accompanying concerto, the famous No. 21 in C, is a fine (studio) reading, but it is not quite at the top of the heap. The energy level isn't quite there...maybe the lack of a live setting makes a difference. At any rate, while fine, it still won't displace several of my other favorites, including the exquisitely polished Brendel/Marriner. But this disc is definitely worth owning, and would make it to my desert island in a heartbeat.