Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 1–4 – Ronald Brautigam

   in Piano International (May, 2017)
This is the final disc in Brautigam’s Mozart concerto series. He ends at the beginning, with the four ‘Pasticcio’ Concertos. All movements of all four except one (K37ii, co-composed by Wolfgang and his father) are sourced from works by Raupach, Honauer, Schobert, Eckard and C P E Bach. The fortepiano used is a bright-toned, alive McNulty based on a 1788 Andreas Stein; the works were written in 1767.

The cadenza in K40 is by Mozart; the remainder, all stylish and well-scaled, are by Brautigam. Slow movements are eloquent and charming, none more so than the Andante of K37, while the Andante staccato of K39 could rightly be described as gallant. Finales …