Kristian Bezuidenhout – Mozart: Keyboard Music Vol.4 (2012) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Kristian Bezuidenhout – Mozart: Keyboard Music Vol.4 (2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:11:26 minutes | 1,25 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi

On volume four of his widely acclaimed traversal of Mozart’s music for solo keyboard, fortepianist Kristian Bezuidenhout performs on an instrument by Paul McNulty, modeled on a Viennese original by Anton Walter & Sohn (c.1805). The program includes Piano Sonatas in D major K.311 and G major K.283 and the lovely Variations on ‘Je suis Lindor’ in E flat Major, K.354. As with the other volumes in this exceptional series, Bezuidenhout brings out colors and shadings in these works that are only possible when performed on a fortepiano.

Listeners can choose from among a number of historical-instrument performances of Mozart’s keyboard works. There are the compelling irregular, somewhat abrupt versions by Andreas Staier, the expressive readings of Ronald Brautigam, the clean-lined treatments of Malcolm Bilson, and now a cycle by South African-British fortepianist Kristian Bezuidenhout on the Harmonia Mundi label. Bezuidenhout is a somewhat experimental player, and his ideas (as in his bizarre concerto readings) can backfire. But one of the strengths of his series has been his choices among fortepianos built by American-Czech maker Paul McNulty, copying instruments by Viennese builder Anton Walter of Mozart’s and Beethoven’s time. Here he uses a copy of an 1805 Walter instrument, a real powerhouse that’s a couple of decades too late for much of the music. But it works, for these are for the most part big works in which Mozart was exploiting every bit of the new instrument’s capabilities; Bezuidenhout’s slight exaggeration of pianistic effects allows him, as it were, to bring out Mozart’s excitement at discovering these capabilities. The two minor-key fantasies and the Prelude and Fugue in C major, K. 394, are presented here in muscular, intense readings that work very well. Even better are the 12 Variations on “Je suis Lindor” in B flat major, K. 354, which can be a very tricky work to bring beyond the mundane. In Bezuidenhout’s hands it’s a sonic adventure. It might be argued that, composed in the year 1778, these variations are close to the dividing line between fortepiano and harpsichord, but Bezuidenhout certainly makes a strong case for them as piano works, and a work written for his own virtuoso use in Paris would likely have been conceived with the latest technology in mind. The location of the recording by Harmonia Mundi USA is not specified, but it is quite fine: the inner workings of the fortepiano are heard but not fetishized.

Tracklist:
1. Kristian Bezuidenhout – Fantasia for piano in D minor (fragment), K. 397 (K. 385g) (1782) leading attacca into: (05:24)
2. Kristian Bezuidenhout – Piano Sonata No. 9 in D major, K. 311 (K. 284c) (1777): I. Allegro con spirito (04:40)
3. Kristian Bezuidenhout – Piano Sonata in D Major, K.311: II. Andante con expressione (05:35)
4. Kristian Bezuidenhout – Piano Sonata in D Major, K.311: III. Rondeau: Allegro (06:21)
5. Kristian Bezuidenhout – Prelude and fugue for piano in C major, K. 394 (K. 383a) (1782): I. Adagio (04:58)
6. Kristian Bezuidenhout – Prelude & Fugue in C Major, K.394: II. Fugue (04:59)
7. Kristian Bezuidenhout – Variations (12) on ‘Je suis Lindor’, for piano in E flat major, K. 354 (K. 299a) (1778): Theme: Allegretto (01:14)
8. Kristian Bezuidenhout – 12 Variations on ‘Je suis Lindor’ in E-flat Major, K.354: I. Variation I (01:02)
9. Kristian Bezuidenhout – 12 Variations on ‘Je suis Lindor’ in E-flat Major, K.354: II. Variation II (01:03)
10. Kristian Bezuidenhout – 12 Variations on ‘Je suis Lindor’ in E-flat Major, K.354: III. Variation III (01:19)
11. Kristian Bezuidenhout – 12 Variations on ‘Je suis Lindor’ in E-flat Major, K.354: IV. Variation IV (01:24)
12. Kristian Bezuidenhout – 12 Variations on ‘Je suis Lindor’ in E-flat Major, K.354: V. Variation V (00:57)
13. Kristian Bezuidenhout – 12 Variations on ‘Je suis Lindor’ in E-flat Major, K.354: VI. Variation VI (01:01)
14. Kristian Bezuidenhout – 12 Variations on ‘Je suis Lindor’ in E-flat Major, K.354: VII. Variation VII (01:14)
15. Kristian Bezuidenhout – 12 Variations on ‘Je suis Lindor’ in E-flat Major, K.354: VIII. Variation VIII (01:29)
16. Kristian Bezuidenhout – 12 Variations on ‘Je suis Lindor’ in E-flat Major, K.354: IX. Variation IX (01:42)
17. Kristian Bezuidenhout – 12 Variations on ‘Je suis Lindor’ in E-flat Major, K.354: X. Variation X (00:33)
18. Kristian Bezuidenhout – 12 Variations on ‘Je suis Lindor’ in E-flat Major, K.354: XI. Variation XI (00:35)
19. Kristian Bezuidenhout – 12 Variations on ‘Je suis Lindor’ in E-flat Major, K.354: XII. Variation XII (02:00)
20. Kristian Bezuidenhout – 12 Variations on ‘Je suis Lindor’ in E-flat Major, K.354: Allegretto (01:32)
21. Kristian Bezuidenhout – Piano Sonata No. 5 in G major, K. 283 (K. 189h) (1774): I. Allegro (05:48)
22. Kristian Bezuidenhout – Sonata in G major, K. 283: II. Andante (06:27)
23. Kristian Bezuidenhout – Sonata in G major, K. 283: III. Presto (04:19)
24. Kristian Bezuidenhout – Fantasia for piano in D minor (fragment, final bars completed by August Eberhard Müller), K. 397 (K. 385g) (05:39)

Download: