Mozart: Piano Concertos No.17, K.453 & No.25, K.503 Mitsuko Uchida & The Cleveland Orchestra

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791): Piano Concerto No. 17 In G Major, K.453:
• 11. Allegro12:45
• 22. Andante11:30
• 33. Allegretto - Finale: Presto08:31
• Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major, K.503:
• 41. Allegro maestoso16:39
• 52. Andante08:23
• 63. Allegretto09:33
• Total Runtime01:07:21

Info zu Mozart: Piano Concertos No.17, K.453 & No.25, K.503

The Cleveland Orchestra and Mitsuko Uchida announce the release date of their latest Decca recording project: Mozart’s Piano Concertos Nos. 17 (K453) and 25 (K503), which were recorded live at Severance Hall in February 2016. internationally.

“With K453 in G major Mozart opens a new horizon in his piano concertos,” says pianist Mitsuko Uchida. “With this lyrical and poignant piece, he began using the woodwinds as solo instruments, almost equal to the piano. This new inspiration reaches its peak with K503 in C major, the grandest of all the concerti, majestic and mysterious. The often asked question which piano concerto of Mozart was my favourite, I have to answer ‘The one I am playing today.’ But these two come pretty much at the top.”

A longtime collaborative partner, Ms. Uchida has performed with The Cleveland Orchestra over 100 times since her debut in 1990, in a range of repertory from Mozart and Beethoven to Schoenberg and Messiaen. The newest Mozart recording is part of a series of recordings with The Cleveland Orchestra, following on four previous Mozart releases (details are included below). All feature Ms. Uchida conducting the concertos from the keyboard. During the 2016-17 Severance Hall season, Ms. Uchida will conduct and perform Mozart’s Piano Concertos Nos. 13 and 20 on April 6, 7, and 8.

The Mozart recording project developed out of a performance series with The Cleveland Orchestra in which Ms. Uchida performed all of Mozart’s solo piano concertos over a period of five seasons, 2002-2007. The success and acclaim of those concerts led to a new multi-year project to revisit select concertos in the series, to record live at Severance Hall and create her definitive interpretations of the selected concertos. All four previous albums have been acclaimed and critically reviewed. In 2011, Mitsuko Uchida won her first Grammy Award for the first recording in this series, Mozart’s Piano Concertos Nos. 23 and 24. The newest recording being released this autumn is the final planned album in the series.

“Uchida's approach to Mozart is well-known in Cleveland. She shapes the orchestral accompaniment with exquisite care … her rendering of the solo part is colorful, crisply articulated and governed by a natural sympathy for the innermost thoughts of the composer.” (cleveland.com)

“The glory of the Cleveland Orchestra remains its balances: the smooth yet complex blend of its winds, the way the lower strings offer subtle depth to the higher ones.” (The New York Times)

“Alert yet dreamy, freely bending the tempo throughout, Ms. Uchida was most fascinating in the way she shifted her approach between the concertos. In the earlier work, her sound was pebbly: smooth yet defined. In the latter, her tone was richer, by the end almost organ-like in its amplitude and grandeur. With the orchestra, her relationship was intimate, playful, delightful.” (The New York Times)

The Cleveland Orchestra
Mitsuko Uchida, conductor, piano

Mitsuko Uchida
is a performer who brings a deep insight into the music she plays through her own search for truth and beauty. She is renowned for her interpretations of Mozart, Schubert, and Beethoven, both in the concert hall and on CD, but she has also illuminated the music of Berg, Schoenberg, Webern and Boulez for a new generation of listeners. Her recording of the Schoenberg Piano Concerto with Pierre Boulez and the Cleveland Orchestra won four awards, including The Gramophone Award for Best Concerto. Amongst many current projects, Uchida has recently been recording a selection of Mozart’s Piano Concerti with the Cleveland Orchestra, directing from the piano: one of the discs in this series won a Grammy Award in 2011.

Highlights this season include performances with the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle, and with the London Symphony and Sir Colin Davis. Uchida will tour Spain and Portugal, play-directing the Mahler Chamber Orchestra in Mozart. She will also undertake a solo recital tour, with venues including the Royal Festival Hall in London, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Berlin’s Philharmonie and Vienna’s Konzerthaus. Uchida will additionally spend time performing in the USA, play-directing the Chicago Symphony and Cleveland Orchestras, and giving recitals at venues including Carnegie Hall.

Mitsuko Uchida performs with the world’s finest orchestras and musicians. Some recent highlights have been her Artist-in-Residency at the Cleveland Orchestra, where she directed all the Mozart concerti from the keyboard over a number of seasons. She has also been the focus of a Carnegie Hall Perspectives series entitled ‘Mitsuko Uchida: Vienna Revisited’. She has featured in the Concertgebouw’s Carte Blanche series where she collaborated with Ian Bostridge, the Hagen Quartet, Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra as well as directing from the piano a performance of Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire. Uchida has also been Artist-in-Residence at the Vienna Konzerthaus, Salzburg Mozartwoche, and with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, where she performed a series of chamber music concerts and a Beethoven Piano Concerti cycle with Sir Simon Rattle.

Mitsuko Uchida records exclusively for Decca and her recordings include the complete Mozart piano sonatas and piano concerti; the complete Schubert piano sonatas; Debussy’s Etudes; the five Beethoven piano concerti with Kurt Sanderling; a CD of Mozart Sonatas for Violin and Piano with Mark Steinberg; Die Schöne Müllerin with Ian Bostridge for EMI; the final five Beethoven piano sonatas; and the 2008 recording of Berg’s Chamber Concerto with the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Pierre Boulez and Christian Tetzlaff. Uchida’s most recent releases are CD’s of Mozart’s concerti K.488 and K.491, and a second disc of K.466 and K.595, both with Uchida directing the Cleveland Orchestra from the piano; and an acclaimed disc of Schumann’s solo piano music, featuring the Davidsbündlertänze and the Fantasie. A third disc in the series of live Cleveland Orchestra recordings for Decca has just been released, featuring Mozart’s concerti K.271 and K467. A DVD featuring a live performance of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire from the Salzburg Festival and an accompanying documentary has just been released by Bel Air and Film+co, in the centennary year of this pivotal work.

Mitsuko Uchida has demonstrated a long-standing commitment to aiding the development of young musicians and is a trustee of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust. She is also Co-director, with Richard Goode, of the Marlboro Music Festival. In May 2012 she was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Gold Medal. In June 2009 she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Booklet für Mozart: Piano Concertos No.17, K.453 & No.25, K.503