Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 27 Ronald Brautigam

• 1 I. Allegro 12:00
• 2 II. Romance 07:17
• 3 III. Rondo: Allegro assai 06:49
• 4 I. Allegro 12:57
• 5 II. Larghetto 05:20
• 6 III. Allegro 08:15
• Total Runtime 52:38

Info for Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 27

Among the most widely performed of Mozart’s piano concertos for a good half century after its composition in 1785, the Concerto No.20 in D minor still assumes a commanding place in the concert hall. Among its early devotees was Beethoven, who performed the work at a benefit concert for Mozart’s widow in March 1795 and who may well have found much to admire in the work’s brooding opening, characterized by syncopations and later punctuated by more aggressive outbursts; in his informative liner notes, the Mozart scholar John Irving goes so far as to call it ‘Mozart’s grittiest concerto’.

Six years after the D minor concerto, in January 1791, the composer completed the Piano Concerto No.27 in B flat major, K595, giving the first performance of it two months later. This was to be his last public appearance as a soloist, and the concerto has sometimes been considered as a work in which the typical sparkle of Mozart’s virtuosity is tempered by resignation, as if the composer were already aware of his imminent demise.

Such an interpretation is contradicted by a close study of the autograph manuscript, however: the concerto appears to have been begun two full years before it was completed. Its language is nevertheless more introverted than most of Mozart’s works in the genre: he seems to be aiming for a sublime delicacy of expression rarely attempted elsewhere in his concerto output. These two exceptional works are here performed by Ronald Brautigam and Die Kölner Akademie, on their fifth disc of Mozart’s concertos – an ongoing series which has been described as ‘a lucky break and a true delight’ in the German magazine Piano News.

“Brautigam and Michael Alexander Willens are never exactly slouches when it comes to tempos, and they give a breathlessly agitated account of the opening movement of the D minor Concerto K466...the slow movement of [K595] is decidedly on the flowing side...but the performance on the whole is one that commands attention. Recommended.” (BBC Music Magazine)

“while I wouldn't always want to hear it like this, Brautigam's performance is certainly refreshing...swiftness is a feature of all the performances here...His articulation is a model of clarity, his passagework powerfully directed.” (Gramophone Magazine)

Ronald Brautigam, fortepiano
Kölner Akademie Orchestra
Michael Alexander Willens, conductor

Ronald Brautigam
one of Holland’s leading musicians, is remarkable not only for his virtuosity and musicality but also for the eclectic nature of his musical interests. He studied in Amsterdam, London and with Rudolf Serkin in the USA. In 1984 he was awarded the Nederlandse Muziekprijs, the highest Dutch musical award. Ronald Brautigam performs regularly with leading European orchestras under distinguished conductors such as Riccardo Chailly, Charles Dutoit, Bernard Haitink, Frans Brüggen, Philippe Herreweghe, Christopher Hogwood, Andrew Parrott, Bruno Weil, Iván Fischer and Edo de Waart. In the field of chamber music he has maintained a musical partnership with the violinist Isabelle van Keulen for more than 20 years. Besides his performances on modern instruments Ronald Brautigam has developed a great passion for the fortepiano, appearing with leading orchestras such as the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Tafelmusik, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Hanover Band, Freiburger Barockorchester, Concerto Copen- hagen and l’Orchestre des Champs-Elysées.

In 1995 Ronald Brautigam began his association with BIS. Among the more than 55 titles released so far are Mendelssohn’s piano concertos (with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta) and, on the fortepiano, the complete piano works of Mozart and Haydn. Also on the fortepiano, his ongoing series of Beethoven’s solo piano music has been described in the American magazine Fanfare as ‘a Beethoven piano-sonata cycle that challenges the very notion of playing this music on modern instruments, a stylistic paradigm shift.’ A cycle of Beethoven’s piano concertos, on modern piano, has likewise been warmly received, with instalments receiving various distinctions, including a MIDEM Classical Award in 2010.

Booklet for Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 27