Between 2011 and 2013, as Associate Artist with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Finghin Collins performed all twenty-three Mozart piano concertos, directing all but three from the piano.

Now the RTÉ Lyric FM label has released a double-CD by Collins of four of the concertos, No. 13 in C, No. 20 in D minor, No. 18 in B flat and No. 22 in E flat.

‘Directing the concertos myself has been revelatory’, writes Collins in the recording’s notes. ‘It has allowed the closest possible collaboration with the musicians, as we have approached the concertos as large-scale chamber works. In the absence of a conductor, everybody listens more intensely.’

Throughout the cycle, I used string strengths of 8 first violins, 8 second violins, 4 cellos and 4 double basses. Putting my back to the audience and removing the lid from the piano, I put the second violins to my right, directly across from the firsts, with the cellos next to the first violins and the basses behind them. Antiphonal violins gave such clarity to the sound. Getting as physically close as possible to the wind players was very important to me – to hear each other better and to feel the music together. The wind writing in the piano concertos is of unsurpassed beauty. We used natural trumpets and calf-skin timpani to get as close to a classical sound as possible with a modern orchestra.

Collins chose these particular four concertos to record for a variety of reasons: ‘I immediately knew I wanted to record the D minor concerto… It is a work that has been close to my heart since I was a teenager’; the B-flat: ‘not among Mozart’s most often requested or performed concertos, but has writing of utter beauty, particularly in the slow movement’; the E-flat concerto: ‘…another masterpiece… The wind writing is virtuosic, the piano writing no less so. It’s hard not to have a smile on one’s face at the end, either as performer or listener’; the C major ‘has moment of pure genius, and some very original touches. The opening orchestral introduction is truly fabulous.’

Listen below to this opening orchestral introduction (track 1), from the C-major Concerto, No. 13 (K415).

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