Edna Stern and the teeny-tiny Orchestre d'Auvergne deliver some small-scaled, hyper-detailed, almost ridiculously intimate Mozart concertos. The sound is clean and dry and close, with the tiny string section bordering on the scratchy, though no one could possibly question the quality of the playing. The real draw is the pianist here, and the former Krystian Zimerman pupil demonstrates an almost obsessive attention to detail like her one time prof, except that rather than unleashing with absolute command, Stern largely goes for the opposite approach, playing with the lightest touch possible - and then playing lighter yet. She's one of those pianists who clearly relishes playing with unlimited variety between
ppp and
p because she does it everywhere. Occasionally, she plays with some oomph, primarily with the left hand, but most of the time she delivers an effortlessly flowing, beautiful - but not too beautiful or rarified - sound, with each note, chord, or arpeggio carefully calibrated to the surrounding music, never, ever letting anything sound disproportionate. When she plays at varying dynamic levels at once, it's most impressive. As one listens, it becomes apparent that the hyper-detailed approach means that the listener loses track of the big picture. Fortunately, when one comes around and thinks "Hey, let me listen to some of them Wolfie tunes", everything is A-OK. While it would be silly to claim that these are the best versions out there of the works on offer, they are all very fine, and Ms Stern's playing demands attention. Fortunately, she has a pretty nice discography, so I may be sampling some more of her stuff.
Amazon UK link:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0044WU0BE/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21
