Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Complete Violin Concertos
Chloe Chua (violin)
Ziya He (viola)
Singapore Symphony Orchestra/Hans Graf
rec. 2022/23, Esplanade Concert Hall and Victoria Concert Hall, Singapore
Pentatone PTC5187420 [3 CDs: 174]

This set of Mozart’s violin concertos follows on from Chloe Chua’s Butterfly Lovers & Paganini album, also from Pentatone, and recorded more or less at the same time and in the same venues. Rob Maynard’s review of this release points out Chloe’s youth and to the “thought that Ms Chua has chosen well in so far restricting her recordings to repertoire that majors on showcasing her impressive technical skills and eschews anything other than a pretty superficial nod towards matters more profound.” Well, it turns out she had something a bit special on the go at the same time. I would put money on taking these recordings to a blind audition, asking everyone to guess at the age of the soloist, and few if any coming up with a musician in their teens. There is nothing small about Chloe Chua’s tone and nothing immature about her approach to Mozart, which by all accounts is stunning in terms of intonation, and fearless without being extreme or mannered. In short, these are recordings I could listen to and feel my smile growing like Alice’s Cheshire Cat every time. 

These are indeed very good concerto recordings by any objective standard. Outer movements are lively, adopting a touch of period instrument sparkle without adopting that hair-shirt abrasiveness we sometimes encounter. The orchestra is mostly light and responsive despite being a larger ensemble than the more common chamber-music approach taken these days, such as with Richard Tognetti on the BIS label (review). In the nicely resonant acoustic of each venue these Pentatone recordings have sonority and depth to go along with enough detail to please the ear without being too up-front, with the solo violin well balanced in the mix.

With such high artistic and technical standards any qualifications against perfection seem more like subjective commentary. One might argue that the first movement of the Third Violin Concerto could be a touch swifter, but on the other hand this performance has something of the operatic drama Mozart might have had in mind for this music, recycling as it does some bars from Il re pastore. The famous Adagio in this concerto is enchanting, though some of those pizzicati in the basses have a tendency to thud on some notes. There are some subtle differences between recording sessions, with the orchestral violins sounding a little more distant for instance in K218, but this is unlikely to disturb anyone’s enjoyment.

Any such set has to have a satisfactory Sinfonia Concertante K364, and this is very much the case here. Chloe Chua and Ziya He are contrast well in terms of timbre, with the woody viola conversing convincingly with the more coquettish violin. The first movement is one place where the virtuoso passages for the orchestral strings loose out in transparency to more chamber ensemble forces, but a few muddy moments between friends need not put us off. That gorgeous Andante middle movement hits the spot as it should, everyone leaning on those wonderful dissonances with just the right weight.                         

There are many recordings of this repertoire, and there are numerous versions including Mirijam Contzen on Oehms Classics (review) and Isabelle Faust on Harmonia Mundi (review) that favour early music sensibilities and aren’t really a fair comparison with this Pentatone set. A more accurate comparison might be James Ehnes with the Mozart Anniversary Orchestra on the Onyx label (review), which has similar timings to Chua and a comparable warmly expressive modern-instrument tonal colour in general. The Singapore Symphony Orchestra has a bit more heft as you might expect, with a more generalised string tone. Ehnes is a bit more expressively direct as a soloist. Take the Adagio in the First Violin Concerto, where Ehnes has delightfully shaped phrasing but a more objective view on the music, where Chua somehow seems able to add expressive weight to every note, bringing us breathlessly to the edge of our seats in anticipation of what will come next without losing Mozart’s song-like qualities.

With all its extras this could easily be anyone’s ‘one and done’ set of Mozart’s Violin Concertos, and I can’t imagine anyone being disappointed with these recordings. Looking back I think that some of that bite you get with the best chamber-orchestra versions should always be an option as an alternative, but the Singapore Symphony Orchestra with Hans Graf is very fine if you don’t mind that more symphonic backdrop. Chloe Chua clearly has a magnificent career ahead of her, and it will be intriguing to see how she plays these works in about 30 years. I for one doubt there will be very much difference.

Dominy Clements    

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Contents

Violin Concerto No.1 in B flat K207 (1773)
Violin Concerto No.2 in D K211 (177?)
Violin Concerto No.3 in G K216 (1775)
Violin Concerto No.4 in D K218 (1775)
Violin Concerto No.5 in A K219 (1775)
Sinfonia Concertante in E flat K364 (1779)  
Rondo K269 (1775/7)
Rondo K373 (1781)
Adagio K261 (1776)