04. - 07.Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Quartet No.2 in E-flat major, K.493 [34'11]
Malcolm Bilson- fortepiano, Elizabeth Wilcock- violin, Jan Schlapp- viola, Timothy Mason- cello
DG Archiv 423 404-2 (recorded March 1987; CD issued 1988)
(flac and scans)
Recording venue: Abbey Road Studios, London
Recording engineer: Gregor Zielinsky and Karl-August Naegler
Producer: Dr Andreas Holschneider
This recording doesn't seem to be easily available for download nowadays so I thought it worth adding here on MIMIC to go with the other Malcolm Bilson recordings from Duckjammy. It was one of the first HIP recordings of the Piano Quartets (I believe it was only preceded by Richard Burnett and the Salomon Quartet) and it remains my favourite recording of these two major works of Mozart since obtaining this CD back in 1988.
The sound of Bilson's fortepianos (by Philip Belt and Derek Adlam) should makes these Mozart recordings acceptable to those who generally dislike fortepianos just as much as to those who do. The detail and textures from the quartet (American pianist Bilson with the string players drawn from the English Baroque Soloists) make both performances musically most satisfactory.
Appendix
For lovers of old British TV programmes, here's a recent cartoon from Private Eye (apologies to our Spanish readers).
