Classical

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus: Piano Concertos No. 20 in D minor, K. 466; No. 27 in B-flat major, K. 595. Clifford Curzon, piano. English Chamber Orchestra, Benjamin Britten, conductor. (London CS 7251) It took 13 years for this record to see the light of day. Clifford Curzon had just recorded the 27th concerto in 1970 when he embarked on an ambitious series of live performances of the same work. At the end of that series, he decided his new insights invalidated what had already been committed to tape, so he withheld approval (the second time he had done that with this concerto, the first having been in 1964 with George Szell and the Vienna Philharmonic). He did not live to re-record the work as planned, and now London Records has issued this remarkable testament in tribute to a superb musician as well as to the equally magnificent composer-conductor Benjamin Britten. These are intensely thoughtful, searching performances that belong right up there with the finest performances of these works ever put to disc.