The Florestan Trio plays Mozart Susan Tomes, piano I approached this release with anticipation tinged by misgivings; we have been trying to ration the Mozart onslaught this year, and have had bad experiences of concerts that might better not have been (e.g. Ascanio). So what to expect of this highly professional group essaying this homely music, and on modern instruments? I am a devotee of historical instruments for the classics, as readers will know, but we had a bad experience of Mozart piano trios at a celebratory concert this year, when an unsatisfactory venue and misbalance with Sharona Joshua's fortepiano disappointed. Mozart's contributions to the genre were composed for his own exceptional pianism, and they began to emancipate the strings; "when are we going to make a little Musique at your home again?" he wrote in June 1788, having just composed K542. Susan Tomes is an unsurpassable stylist, and she finds an ideal way to translate Mozart's conceptions for modern piano, with immaculate tone, touch and phrasing, well supported by her colleagues, and with her perfectly set up Steinway balanced with the strings by Simon Eadon at Henry Wood Hall, that oasis of calm close to South London's heavy traffic. We have enjoyed them on three successive mornings at breakfast and I doubt Mozart would have disapproved; they make ideal home listening. Immaculately presented, Hyperion are promoting this CD as their record of the month, and I should not be surprised if others follow suit. |