Naxos 8.111294, 65:13 [Not Distr. in the US] ****:
Virtuoso and pedagogue Artur Schnabel (1882-1951) maintains his status as a great interpreter of the Viennese tradition, of which his inscriptions of five of the Mozart piano concertos still resonate with authority, even in spite of his sometimes willful cadenzas, as in the case of K. 491. In February 1934 Schnabel sojourned to London to perform three concertos at one concert; then he returned on 2 May 1934 to make his first commercial recording of a Mozart concerto, the B-flat, K. 595 with John Barbirolli. The Bechstein Schnabel used for the session has a bright, pearly tone, which often sunds plaintively clear next to some wobbly string work from the LSO. The elastic phrases from Mozart’s last concerto flow with a lovely security as piano and orchestra interweave their respective vocalizations. The Larghetto–recorded first at the session–proceeds extremely slowly, almost mannered in a defunct romantic tradition. Yet, for al of its mysterious, expanded sense of time, Schnabel manages to keep the pearls from detaching themselves from the expressive, lyric string that holds the notes together. If the last movement tries to compensate at light-footed speed, with Schnabel’s occasionally mussing 16th notes, the jovially piquant spirit of the Rondo-Allegro remains effective and eminently musical.
The Rondo in A Minor has always had a special place in my catalogue ever since I first heard the Rubinstein inscription for his RCA coupling with the C Minor Concerto with Josef Krips. Schnabel recorded the Rondo on 4 June 1946 on a Steinway at the Abbey Road Studio 3, London, a performance that has had prior incarnation on the Appian label.
Schnabel joined his son Karl Ulrich Schnabel (1909-2001) in London 28 October 1936 for the session devoted to Mozart’s K. 365 under Adrian Boult. Bubbling spirits reign supreme, the two soloists apparently relishing each other’s jaunty contribution to the interwoven filigree, which seems never to tire. Boult’s orchestral tissue proves both effortlessly taut, fitted to the often lush keyboard antiphons like an elastic glove. Taken from Australian HMV’s, the E-flat Concerto enjoys a sonic presence that belies its age. Youthful buoyancy at every turn, this last concerto concludes a remarkably consistent, high level of performance.
— Gary Lemco
