File this one with the experimental Mozart concerto recordings, even with the questionable experiments. South African-born historical-performance specialist Kristian Bezuidenhout uses unusual microphone placement in this recording of two of Mozart's mature and very frequently recorded concertos, and the effect is certainly different enough to justify yet another version. The winds are placed in the foreground, and the piano is surrounded by the strings and closely integrated with them rather than standing out in solitary ...
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File this one with the experimental Mozart concerto recordings, even with the questionable experiments. South African-born historical-performance specialist Kristian Bezuidenhout uses unusual microphone placement in this recording of two of Mozart's mature and very frequently recorded concertos, and the effect is certainly different enough to justify yet another version. The winds are placed in the foreground, and the piano is surrounded by the strings and closely integrated with them rather than standing out in solitary splendor. The effect, Bezuidenhout says, is to make the concertos into something like, in E.T.A. Hoffmann's words, symphonies with piano obbligato, although the relevance of this statement to Mozart's concertos is certainly debatable. In the slow movements, with their lovely wind writing, it could work. But here Bezuidenhout unleashes his second bit of wildness: he moves in and out of one-instrument-per-part accompaniment, reserving the smaller ensemble for particularly lyric moments....
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