Anna Walachowski, Ines Walachowski, Sinfonieorchester Aachen, Marcus Bosch - Mozart: Concertos for Two Pianos (2006)

Perfectly charming and altogether adorable, this recording of Mozart's two concertos for two pianos and orchestra is a wonderful way to while away three-quarters of an hour. Polish sisters Anna and Ines Walachowski are light-fingered virtuosos with a persuasive way of putting over a phrase and a compelling way of playing together as two halves of an indissoluble whole. In the concertos' brilliant outer Allegros, their playing is quite exciting in its speed and dexterity, while in the soulful central Andante and Adagio, their playing is quite enticing in its warmth and elegance. And everywhere, the sisters' phrasing, their tempos, their balances, and their sheer unity of conception and execution are all extremely impressive. Ably accompanied by sympathetic conductor Marcus Bosch leading the delightful Sinfonieorchester Aachen, the Walachowski sisters turn in performances that, while they may not overturn the already accepted ordering of the great recordings of the works -- one thinks immediately of Emil Gilels and his daughter Elena's 1973 recording of the E flat Concerto -- are still more than pleasant additions to the catalog. Oehms' 2006 digital sound is clean and direct with enough sense of place and time to be convincing.