Brautigam/Kolner Akademie - Mozart:Piano Concertos

This is the ninth instalment in Ronald Brautigam's series of the complete piano concertos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. As on previous discs, Brautigam - whose 'muscular yet sensitively nuanced command of Mozartian discourse' (BBC Music Magazine) - is supported by Die K�lner Akademie under Michael Alexander Willens. The opening work on this instalment is the C major concerto, K 415, which was first performed on 23rd March 1783 in the presence of Emperor Joseph II. K 415 was composed in conjunction with the Concerto No. 11 in F major, K 413, which in contrast is a more intimate creation, especially in its Larghetto middle movement, in which Mozart achieves some of his most memorable writing, with the various textures of the orchestra providing a cushion of sound for a delicious cantabile aria for the piano - a model that was to become almost a trademark of his later concerto slow movements. The disc closes with Concerto No. 8 in C major, K 246, composed some six years earlier. Mozart wrote it for Countess Antonia L�tzow, one of his father's pupils, and in terms of technical difficulty, it is among the least demanding of his piano concertos - which nevertheless didn't stop Mozart from performing it himself on several occasions.