Either as director and pianist, or when combining the roles, Uchida lives every note, and the contribution from the orchestra is a vital one, not least from characterful woodwinds and with horns, trumpets and timpani adding a distinctive presence. Uchida's pianistic clarity and incision, and her unforced identification with the music, equates to the sort of playing that makes one listen to seemingly familiar music with fresh ears and to appreciate how an artist, even one as individual as Uchida, can search music but not dominate it . . . With crisp, well-balanced sound . . . this is a recommendable release
Soloists Mitsuko Uchida on the piano, Zinovi Kaplan on the violin and Dudu Carmel on the oboe interpret the music of Bach ("Concerto for Violin and Oboe"), Beethoven ("Piano Concerto No. 4"), Stravinsky ("Pulcinella") and Schubert ("Rosamunde Overture"). They play under the able baton of maestro Zubin Mehta conducting the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Special features include artist bios and a documentary about the life of Johann Sebastian Bach.