Gramophone Magazine
January 2025
Editor's Choice

Freiburger Barockorchester, Kristian Bezuidenhout (fortepiano/conductor)

Piano Concerto No. 19 in F major, K459
Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K488

If the Piano Concertos Nos.19 and 23 are among the most famous in the corpus, it is of course because of their sublime middle movements, but also because they reach the very heights of Mozartian subtlety in terms of orchestration, thematic development and dramatic instinct. The historically informed performances from Kristian Bezuidenhout and Freiburger Barockorchester take the same interpretative approach as earlier volumes in the series, underpinned by an utterly luminous musical discourse.

"The Freiburg players and Bezuidenhout seem bent on outdoing themselves and the result is as close to an ideal performance [of K488] as I have experienced in a long life of listening to Mozart." - Gramophone Magazine, January 2025