Mozart: The Piano Sonatas on Mozart's Fortepiano

After an abortive set on some years earlier, pianist returns with a complete cycle of . The intervening years have given him time for further research and reflection that show up in these recordings, which made best-seller charts in the fall of 2022 despite a hefty list price and a sometimes bristly approach. was also allowed this time around to play 's own fortepiano, a 1782 model, and this is one of the main attractions here. The instrument resides at the Salzburg Mozarteum, and few historical pianos have been so well cared for. It is a remarkable instrument, with sharp differentiations of texture between its registers and enough of an edge to deliver 's basic approach that avoids the conception of as a delicate flower and instead stresses rhythmic tension, opera-like drama, and the new ability of the keyboard to mimic orchestral effects in works like the . He is exceptionally alert to the rhythmic undercurrents in the outer movements, and a piece like the opening Allegro of the , hardly one of 's most popular keyboard works, here receives an unusually sharp, tense performance. leans into the ambition of the later sonatas, with an operatic, Beethovenian - pair and crisp readings of the ultra-concise final group. Another innovation here is the heavy use of ornamentation of repeated material. This is justified mostly with reference to procedures documented in the music of , which does not necessarily provide definitive evidence when it comes to . Listener reactions to what does may vary, but overall, this is absolutely distinctive , backed by a good deal of thought and scholarship. ~ James Manheim