Anastasia Injushina - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Works - Neglected Treasures (2014)

‘Neglected Treasures’ promises the CD cover. This is surely stretching a point with the two variation sets, on ‘Ah, vous dirai-je Maman’ (aka ‘Twinkle, twinkle, little star’) and Gluck’s comic aria ‘Unser dummer Pöbel meint’. But only the most avid Mozart lovers are likely to know the wiry G minor sonata movement, K312, or the exuberant unfinished Allegro, K400, plausibly completed by Maximilian Stadler. Equally rare are the neo-Handelian Suite, K399 (also unfinished), and the Bachian Prelude and Fugue, K394, probably inspired by Baron van Swieten’s Baroque weekly matinees and Constanze Mozart’s Bach Handel enthusiasm.

Uninhibitedly exploiting the resources of the modern Steinway (no pussyfooting), Anastasia Injushina is an imaginative, often compelling Mozartian. The variation sets that grew out of Mozart’s own improvisations come off especially well, with Injushina relishing both their extrovert brilliance and their textural subtleties. She is touching without affectation in the late Andante composed ‘for a cylinder in a small organ’, music whose rarefied simplicity evokes the B flat Piano Concerto, K595, and parts of Die Zauberflöte. For my taste, Injushina over-lards the Allemande and Courante of the Suite, K399, with soulful rubato (and, from her dreamy tempo, you would never guess that the courante derives from a running dance). The bounding momentum of K400, too, is compromised by moments of waywardness. These frustrations aside, there is far more to enjoy than to cavil at in this offbeat Mozart programme, truthfully recorded, not least in Injushina’s boldly ‘orchestrated’ playing of the tense G minor Allegro – a tantalising fragment of what might been another minor-key Mozart sonata.

Review by Richard Wigmore, Gramophone

The catalog is filled with recitals of Mozart's keyboard music that entertain, dazzle, and lift the spirit. Rare, though, are the recordings that exhibit these attributes and also increase our knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of the man and the musician. Anastasia Injushina's CD of Mozart's "Neglected Treasures" does just that.

A refined pianist, Injushina follows her debut recording for Ondine of keyboard concertos by J.S. Bach & Sons Bach: Keyboard Concertos with this exquisite solo disc. It is not her style to call attention to herself but to use her talent to put forward the music, fulfilling the Latin proverb that – in Oscar Wilde's words – "To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim." Keeping that quality in mind, much of the music Injushina presents here will be new even to those who are familiar with the complete Mozart piano sonatas.

Many listeners, for example, will be brought up short by the opening piece, the Suite in C Major, KV 399. Subjected to a blind test, most of us might have a hard time identifying the composer. Is this a French overture by Handel or some unknown Baroque master? In fact, as Rainer Aschemeier's superb liner notes explain, Mozart wrote this in 1782 after fleeing the stifling atmosphere of his employment by the Archbishop of Salzburg for the "Clavierland" of Vienna, where he encountered musicians who were exploring what was already considered the antique style of composers such as Bach and Handel. It is not long before contemporary Viennese elements erupt in the melodic line, and the mixture of Baroque and "classical" elements perhaps explains why pianists are hesitant to program the piece, whose concluding sarabande Mozart left unfinished. But it repays repeated hearings, thanks to Injushina's light, warm touch.

Similar qualities of both composition and performance are also evident in the Prelude and Fugue in C Major, KV 394. Mozart's father was beside himself when he learned Wolfgang was "wasting" time composing fugues, not only the hardest and most complicated of forms but also one quite out of fashion in 1782. In the 21st century, we can be thankful that the young Mozart devoted so much time and energy to studying Bach and Handel, which would enrich the polyphony of his later music.

One of the most intriguing – and moving – pieces Injushina plays is the Sonata Movement in G Minor, whose KV number of 312 is misleading because it was actually written in 1790, the year before Mozart died. (It is now identified as KV 590d.) As Aschemeier writes, the movement is of extraordinarily high quality and "occupies territory between melancholy and composure," a bittersweet mixture well conveyed by Injushina's delivery.

Some Mozart aficionados will be familiar with the longest piece on the disc, the Ten Variations, KV 455, on an aria from a popular opera of the time ("Die Pilger von Mekka") by Gluck, whose creation arose in singular circumstances. In Vienna in 1783, Mozart was giving a series of evening concerts called "Academies," and one night, in walked the esteemed, elderly composer himself! Jumping at the opportunity, the ever-spontaneous Mozart improvised the variations on the spot, then – fortunately for posterity – wrote them down in manuscript. The entertaining variations demonstrate Mozart's mastery of counterpoint, gained from what Aschemeier calls "his battle with the Baroque style."

Injushina closes her charming and insightful 69-minute panorama with the Twelve Variations, KV265 – which were already popular during Mozart's lifetime – based on the French folk song, "Ah, vous dirai-je, maman" (Ah, shall I tell you, mother). The adult-oriented French lyrics differ considerably from the tune's English version for children, "Twinkle, twinkle, little star." The well-known variations can sound hackneyed in a routine performance. Not here. In Injushina's hands, they delight with their evergreen freshness and the irrepressible effusion of their invention.

Ondine's recording engineers are widely recognized for providing a clean sound stage, and they do in this case. Injushina's piano sounds crystal clear, with the delicate manner of her playing perfectly captured. Everything about this package is first-rate, including the English translation of the liner notes by Nina Schiefelbein and the photography by Jukka Lehtinen. Congratulations all around, especially to Injushina. And to Mozart.

Review by Jeff Wolf, Amazon.com

Exact Audio Copy V1.3 from 2. September 2016

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Anastasia Injushina / Mozart - Piano Works

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log date: 2018-09-22 00:42:03

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Analyzed: Anastasia Injushina / Mozart - Piano Works
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DR Peak RMS Duration Track
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DR12 -3.12 dB -19.91 dB 4:25 01-Suite in C major (fragment), KV 399 - I. Ouverture
DR11 -9.97 dB -24.95 dB 4:34 02-Suite in C major (fragment), KV 399 - II. Allemande
DR12 -11.15 dB -25.81 dB 3:10 03-Suite in C major (fragment), KV 399 - III. Courante
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DR14 -3.63 dB -22.53 dB 12:37 10-Twelve Variations in C major on 'Ah vous dirai-je, Maman', KV 265
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