Edna Stern / Arie van Beek / Orchestre d'Auvergne W.A. MOZART Concerto No. 9 - Concertos No. 12, 14

Though these two discs have arrived at the same time and offer two of the same works, the differences between them run deeper than the fact that one is on period instruments and one on modern. Edna Stern’s performances are all about intimacy: intimacy of sound, manifested in a close, dry (and sometimes rather unlovely) recording offering sharp textural clarity and emphasising the tightness of the Orchestre d’Auvergne’s ensemble-playing; and intimacy of thought, for this is an artist with a delicate touch who likes to shape every detail of phrasing and articulation as if polishing a tiny gem. Whether that suits this particular music at every turn is open to question and her approach may strike some as too reined in for the extrovert Mozart on show in these concertos. Pearlescent passagework and exquisite voicing is an important part of the Mozartian armoury, of course, but a more assertive swagger is surely required for the first movements of K271 and K449 (why the coy diminuendos in the former’s first piano entry?), along with a more boisterous sense of play in the finales. Surprisingly, Stern also misses the anguish in K271’s extraordinary slow movement, hopping through it somewhat perfunctorily, and although the prettier, more chamber-like K414 suits her style much better and she finds greater depth and nobility in its slow movement, she seems like one of those undeniably talented players destined to divide opinion. Ronald Brautigam’s disc – the first in an intended cycle on period instruments – is projected on a more public scale. The Kölner Akademie is the same size as Stern’s orchestra but sounds bigger in its more resonant acoustic, while the smaller tone of the fortepiano has the effect of allowing Brautigam to play out without inhibition. The piano and orchestra are less integrated here, giving a greater feel of a contest, and this brings generally happier results in an uncomplicated K271 which comes over as it should do – bold, brilliant and strong-fingered but with a dark vein of tragedy in the slow movement (a minute longer in Brautigam’s performance!). K414 has more grandeur, too, with Michael Alexander Willens drawing expansive lines and the occasional massive crescendo from his players. The smooth subtleties of Stern’s playing were perhaps never likely to surface on this recording – but then, natural energy and straightforward assurance are Brautigam’s strengths, and they are fittingly applied here. (Lindsay Kemp / Gramophone)