Leopold Kozeluch, Piano Concertos no. 1, 5 & 6, Howard Shelley, London Mozart Players (Hyperion)This all sounds very familiar. Obviously not any of the Mozart concertos one immediately knows so it must be some of the others. You could have fooled me, and it did, so I bought the album.
All the mannerism and style of the much-loved Mozart concertos are here but Mozart isn't. Leopold Kozeluch (1747- 1818) was doing almost the same thing at the same time but whereas Mozart did it just that extra bit better and so became a household name, Kozeluch was famous in their day but precious few have heard of him now.
It's the devil that is missing, and that tinge of melancholy, that makes Mozart special and means that Kozeluch is just the professional showman. He should perhaps be grateful that Peter Schaffer didn't use him as the Salieri figure in Amadeus and thus cast him for posterity as the frustrated rival who was not touched by God because it seems that Mozart and Kozeluch perhaps didn't like each other much and so he would have fitted the role equally well.
The piano tinkles in spritely fashion in the allegros and is gently picturesque in the slow movements but for all that he chases himself up and down the keyboard, the closer you listen, the more you know this isn't quite genius, it is just highly likeable and very companiuonable music, it just doesn't have any darkness, doubt or sense of fragility shimmering under the surface.
And that is presumably the difference between colossal genius and perfect professionalism.
Philip Glass, Symphony no. 10 Aurora Orchestra/Nicholas Collon (BBC Music)Even the BBC Music magazine, that doesn't have a bad word for much, has to admit that much of Philip Glass is like a lot of other Philip Glass. Twice during the all-night vigil of Glass works broadcast on Radio 3 to mark the 80th birthday, I tuned in and tuned out again, wondering who was capable of listening to six hours of it. If the USA blasted President Noriega of Panama with heavy metal racket until he came out with his hands up, or Chinese water torture, here was a further idea of driving anybody to distraction.
The solo piano music, the opera Akhnaten and the violin concerto are Glass pieces that genuinely do make him important, enjoyable and one of the grreat composers of his generation but the point of his gradually evolving repetitions are best appreciated as an idea rather than having to listen to it all.
The tenth symphony is, like so mucxh of his music, apparently made up of references to the rest of his music and if Vivaldi can be accused of having written the same concerto 500 times it is hard to see why Glass should not be described in similar terms.
The disc that comes with the February edition of the BBC magazine is augmented with The Dharma at Big Sur for electric violin and orchestra by John Adams and that provides a more atmospheric, other-worldly meditation that is much more satisfying and a welcome alternative to The Chairman Dances or A Short Ride in a Fast Machine, by which Adams is usually known.
But the magazine is worth its price for alerting us to a new disc by Natalie Clein and the fact that where once, some 40 years ago, I was capable of doing the NME crossword, I can now do theirs.