MOZART. Concerto in F major for three pianos and orchestra, K242*. Concerto in E flat major for two pianos and orchestra, K365t. Christoph Eschenbach (pnet/dir), "1-Justus Frantz, *Helmut Schmidt (pnos); London Philhar- monic Orchestra. HMV digital ® ASD4257; TCC-ASO4257.

Selected comparison—coupled as above: H., Y., & J. Menuhin, Bath Feat Orch (8/66) 18/78/ (RI CFP40291 Concerto for two pianos—selected comparison: E. & E. Gilels, VP0,13Ohm (11/74) 2530 456 certo in Salzburg in 1779, almost certainly for performance by himself and his sister Nannerl; after his move to Vienna in 1781 he also played it with his pupil Josepha von Auernhammer, "the fat daughter of Herr von Auernhammer", of whom he wrote "the young lady is a fright, but plays enchantingly". For the Vienna performance(s) Mozart is reputed to have added, in the outer movements, pairs of clarinets, trumpets and timpani to the original orchestra of strings, oboes, bassoons and horns, but if he did so these additional wind parts have only survived in the orchestral material published by Breitkopf & Hartel in 1881. The point is worth making because this new recording incorporates these extra parts—and is, so far as I know, the only one to do so. I have my doubts as to their authenticity: trumpets and drums add a touch of ceremony, it cannot be denied, but the clarinets do little except cloud the texture, and contribute nothing of importance in the way that the oboes and bassoons do; I think it is significant that Sir Henry Wood, who was never averse to filling out the orchestration of eighteenth-century music, wrote over them, in his set of Breitkopf parts now in the Library of the Royal Academy of Music, the emphatic command: "Not to be usedH.J.W."

This much said, I can report that the performance by Christoph Eschenbach—who also directs the LPO—and Justus Frantz is spruce and vivacious in the quick movements and sensitive in the central Andante; but by comparison with the marvellous DG one by Emil Gilels and his daughter Elena (with Emil Gilels magnificent in the solo Piano Concerto in B flat, K595 as a coupling) I do find a lack of warmth and geniality, which are surely essential to this lovable concerto: the music often sounds hard-driven, and Mozart's own superb cadenzas somehow mannered and lacking in spontaneity.

The earlier and slighter Concerto in F for three pianos, another 'family' piece composed in 1776 for Countess Antonia Lodron and her two daughters, comes off better, perhaps because it is less demanding. But although there is much to admire in the new performance (in which Eschenbach and Frantz are joined by Chancellor Helmut Schmidt), vividly recorded—as is K365—by EMI digitally, there is not quite the sense of enjoyment which there is in the much older CfP record by Hephzibah, Yaltah and Jeremy Menuhin, and which also permeates the spirited and stimulating performance of the Twopiano Concerto by Hephzibah and Yaltah with which it is coupled. R.G.