Classical Music: Elizabeth Sombart Plays Mozart Piano Concertos

How do we, mere mortals, comprehend the achievements of a Mozart?

This is not, of course, a question that most Mozart fans bother about: they just get on with enjoying the music.

But for me, attempting to come to terms with the greatest of talents, it forms part of a critical appreciation that considers the entirety of an artist’s achievement (twenty seven piano concertos alone) while judging the best of his work. To put it another way, microcosm and macrocosm.

Elizabeth Sombart is a French pianist who has performed in public since she was eleven. She too has a talent that is difficult to comprehend. Her discography covers all the greatest composers who have written for her instrument. However, her preference is clearly for the Classical and Romantic periods.

This new disc features four of those concertos. Unless you use music like this as an accompaniment to the ironing, it is difficult to see how it could all be taken in at a single sitting. However, the effect with the piano concertos is the same as with any other piece of music by Mozart: we are in the presence of Civilisation.

With Concerto 20, for example, Pierre Vallet and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra provide two and a half minutes of introduction, preparing the listener for the moment that Sombart’s limpid touch in the opening bars her solo comes in. The introduction teases with different tonal colours, challenging a listener to predict where Sombart will take us. Initially, the location is calm, but we know it will not stay so cool. Tension builds, but is then resolved in a series of arpeggios.

This being Mozart, we know that there will be melodies you can hum coming along soon. The Second Movement gives us that. This instant recognisability is one of the factors in Mozart’s success. His ability to evoke emotion, along with his technical challenge to musicians, keeps him at the forefront of popular composers.

The Third Movement illustrates the nature of the technical challenge. The rapidity of the playing and the re-emergence of the orchestra in throwing down a challenge to the soloist, particularly in the brass, demands a response.

The four concertos on this disc represent a taster for Mozart’s full oeuvre, with the famous Concerto 21 present. The problem is, how do you distinguish Sambart’s interpretation from the many others that are available? Perhaps you like the idea that, in one place, you have a complement of Mozart Concertos.

Alternatively, you may prefer to have an experience that reminds you of the concert hall with disparate pieces welded together to form a varied programme.

It is good to have choices, don’t you think?