I missed Leif Ove Andsnes’s first snapshot foray into one of Mozart’s anni mirabiles (1785), although any year in the latter part of Mozart’s tragically short life could be described as an annus mirabilis. If it’s as fine as this 2CD set for the following year (1786) I must try to track it down. 

This sequel contains Piano Concertos No 23, in A, K.488, No 24 in C minor, K.491, Piano Quartet No 2 in E Flat, K.493, the Piano Trio in B Flat, K.502, Rondo, K.485 and the concert aria Ch’io mi scordi di te (That I should forget you), K.505. Andsnes is an instinctive Mozartian and his direction of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra from the keyboard works excellently.

We habitually marvel at the way symphonists like Beethoven, Sibelius and Vaughan Williams managed to compose symphonies so different from each other as to create individual universes, but surely Mozart achieved the same miracle with his late piano concertos. Juxtaposing the K.488 concerto beside the C Minor was a smart move by Andsnes, as it makes the...