Christian Zacharias, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausann - Mozart : Piano Concertos Vol 6 (2009) [SACD]

SA-CD.net review by Polly Nomial October 25, 2010:
This release picks up where the previous volumes have left off & one cannot really fault the playing in any way.
Listening to this disc is almost pure pleasure for tempo choices, balances between piano, orchestra & the respective sections are as close to ideal as one could wish to hear on modern instruments. The phrasing is also pleasingly refined & not in the least Romantic but of course contains much beauty & ardour in the famous slow movement to the 21st concerto. The only grumble is the cadenza that Zacharias composed for the 1st movement of the 21st concerto – it tries to be a little too clever & doesn’t quite work for this listener; a shame, for those in the 3rd movement are exquisite.
The same sterling qualities apply in concertos 14 & 15 (although here Mozart left his own cadenzas) but there is a suspicion that the denser string writing would gain more from period instruments than in the later C major work; the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne do their best (& it is very good) but it seems a little too weighty, as does the modern Steinway cf a fortepiano. For most listeners these are trifling quibbles that will be given no further thought having heard the disc once but for those doubtful, the opening to KV 449 is probably the best illustration of the potential pitfalls. Vibrato is not completely eschewed in the strings & is rather deployed (as was the intention at the time) as an ornament to embellish selectively – it works very well & helps lighten textures dramatically without making longer lines in any way anaemic.
The sound is, as ever from MDG, a 2+2+2 format which should have many beneficial effects for those with a suitable set-up; this is not the same as the ITU standard (which most companies record for) & so listeners without a comparable set-up cannot gain the full benefit of such a recording technique. Allowing for that aspect, the sound is clear & rounded – a very pleasant experience if not the best that one could ever hear.
Recommended.