2011-09-25 / The Observer / Stephen Pritchard

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 6, 8 & 9
HYPERION

Anyone lucky enough to have been at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in April to hear Angela Hewitt direct Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 9 K271 from the keyboard will be pleased with her new ambition to record all 27 concertos for Hyperion. Judging from this first example, it’s going to be a journey as revelatory as her exploration of all the major keyboard works of Bach. Hewitt is also a violinist and so brings elegant yet practical intuition to her direction; much of her keyboard articulation, for instance, imitates string-bowing. She is joined in this exciting new endeavour by the fleet-footed Orchestra Da Camera di Mantova, who share her attention to stylistic detail. It’s going to be a thrilling ride.