David Greilsammer and the Suedama Ensemble reviewed in Gramophone Magazine

Intimate and Intelligent performances that benefit from a close recording

Last year's disc of early piano concertos from Israeli pianist David Greilsammer and his New York-based Suedama Ensemble received praise in these pages for performance and criticism for its close recorded sound (11/08). This release, featuring two of the mature concertos, shows that the sound is very much part of the concept for these musicians. Greilsammer is an excellent pianist who attains high levels of tonal delicacy and precision, and not only has he nothing to fear from the proximity of microphones, his artistry is highlighted by it. As a conductor, too, he shapes his orchestra with meticulous care, sculpting phrases firmly but kindly and allowing the wind-writing - a major glory of these works - to come through and hold the stage as it should. When the slow minuet starts up in the finale of K482 it is as if old and cherished friends are offering succour, an effect that would seem unlikely from within the dreamy wash of sound this music is sometimes subjected to.

Perhaps of all Mozart's concertos, it is K491 which is most often presented to us as if through a veil of tears, but Greilsammer here banishes sentimentality from the work while losing nothing in expressive intensity. Dynamic contrasts such as in the first movement's development, or the abruptly dispatched ending to the finale, are dramatic without being hysterical, while the Larghetto is swift-moving yet graceful and dance-like; only the surprising perkiness of its closing bars seems inappropriately unfeeling.

Any doubts that Greilsammer can touch the soul, however, disappear at his strongly moving account of the Andante of K482, with its ominous string phrases, pained piano yelps and warm consolations from the winds. With imaginative cadenzas by Greilsammer himself these intelligent and intimately detailed performances may not be to all tastes but they are refreshing and revealing reminders of these concertos' greatness none the less.

Lindsay Kemp