Piotr Anderszewski is a rare enough talent that everything he records is worth listening to. for some reason the other reviewers are all over the map about what they hear. What I hear, in the first place, is the biggest and most heroic of the concertos, the D minor, being miniaturized, a strange move on the pianist's part. For decades, when other concertos were reputed, quite wrongly, to be dainty, K. 466 was admired because it prefigured Beethoven and because its dramatic thrust paired it with Don Giovanni. Anderszewski rises to some grandeur in passing moments of the first movement, but his overall conception is refined and at times cautious, quite a contrast with his earlier, daring recording of the C minor concerto K. 491.
I do't know what brought about this change of heart. In other respects he knows what he's doing; the conducting form the keyboard is accomplished -- but a previous reviewer may be right to suggest that too much attention had to be paid to this role, because the pianist for once seems to lack conviction until he reaches the big Cadenza. It is played with wonderful inventiveness, originality, and personality. The slow movement displays lovely touch, and Anderszewski finds just the right pace, but once again he seems to underplay. This feels more like somebody reflecting on Mozart than fully engaging him. the finale is straightforward and impressive. Both orchestra and recorded sound are exemplary.
We jump back a year, from 1785 to 1784 -- the annus mirabilis so far as Mozart's piano concertos go -- and immediately the sun comes out in the G major concerto K. 453. Anderszewski is all smiles, and every phrase is elegance itself. I wish a little more blood ran in his veins and a little less Champagne, however. There is simply not enough force, and he could have discovered more inflection. In the end, your love for this CD will depend on whether you consider Mozart a more robust composer than this. I do, and as much as I admire Anderszewski, I hear the old, discredited dainty style trying to make a reappearance.