Murray Perahia - Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 27 (1986)

These two concertos are glorious, with melodies to sweep you off your feet and fall in love with them.
Concerto # 20 is powerful, and has an exquisite second movement "Romance". One of the two most frequently performed of Mozart's piano concertos (the other being # 21, with its "Elvira Madigan" slow movement), it is what the liner notes call "the most Beethovenian" of the concertos, pointing the way to 19th cent. music.
Mozart did not write any cadenzas for this piece, and Perahia plays one written by Beethoven in the opening Allegro, and dazzles us with one he composed himself in the third movement.
Concerto # 27 was completed in the year of Mozart's death, and despite his ill health and much sadness, wrote an intensely spiritual concerto, with an uplifiting, beautiful finale; of the two, I think this one might be my favorite.
Perahia's interpretations are masterful. With flawless technique and fluidity, there is a purity and simplicity to these performances, both as pianist and conductor of the excellent English Chamber Orchestra. Recorded in '77 and '79, the sound is good, liner notes minimal, and total time 61'32. A truly wonderful CD of two of the loveliest pieces ever written for the piano.