CURZON – MOZART Piano Concerto No. 20, No. 27 etc

Sir Clifford Curzon, piano
Benjamin Britten, conductor
English Chamber Orchestra

Release date: May 23, 2026
Item No.: ESLD-10013/14
Specifications: LP 180g weight vinyl
JAN: 4907034226085
Label: DECCA
Source: Universal Music G.K.
Genre: Concerto, Instrumental music
Type A double-jacket
Planning and sales: ESOTERIC CO.

The immortal masterpiece of the Mozart concerto by Clifford Curzon and Benjamin Britten, the greatest Mozart concerto known to those in the know.

The greatest Mozart concerto by one of the most famous pianists of the 20th century.
This is the most exquisite concerto by Clifford Curzon (1907-82) and Benjamin Britten (1913-76), two men who were devoted to Mozart. When Curzon died at the age of 75, he was one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century, as he was described in British and American obituaries as “one of the world’s greatest pianists, ” and in Germany as “a master pianist capable of expressing pure and noble beauty, ” and in 1977 he became the first Englishman to be ” He was the first pianist to be knighted in England in 1977. He was the first pianist to be knighted in the U.K. in 1977. However, this was due to his consistent insistence as an artist.

After his debut at the age of 16, Curzon, born in London, was recognized by the famous conductor Henry Wood, and his outstanding talent was noticed. Although he played a great deal of brilliant Romantic music at that time, he later limited his repertoire to Classical music and early Romanticism such as Schubert, Schumann, Liszt, and Brahms, which had remained consistent since the beginning of his career, and his fame grew. In the 1970s, he concentrated almost exclusively on Mozart and Schubert, and became such a Mozart specialist that he appeared at the Salzburg Festival, held in Mozart’s sacred city, from 1955 to 1978. This work features a lineup of his best repertoire.

Mozart’s music has finally been released to the world 12 years after its recording, and Curzon’s relentless inquisitiveness behind it is the essence of his work.
Curzon did not welcome unexpected visitors to his studio or control room who might disrupt his enthusiasm for purely musical concerns, and visitors were strictly forbidden.” (Producer; Ray Minshall)

Curzon was not an extreme aversion to recording, but he was a pianist who demanded the utmost care when recording, who pursued more perfect expression, who studied and honed his craft in his spare time, and who made producers weep, as many pieces were not allowed to be released even after recording was complete.

It is said that he proposed to Decca in the 1960s to record the complete Mozart piano concertos, which were his main repertoire, but during his lifetime, only one recording, Nos. 23 and 24, recorded in 1967 by Kertesz and the London Symphony Orchestra, was ever released. This work was also released after his death in 1982, 12 years after the recording. This is the essence of Curzon as a pianist who devoted his life to music and art.

An uncompromising perfectionist, Curzon was never satisfied with his Mozart performances. He is particularly attached to No. 27, which he has not allowed to be released, even though he co-created it with his compatriot Britten, because he cherishes the new impressions and interpretations he gained from later concerts. He had previously refused permission to release recordings of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sell in 1964 and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kertesz in 1967. Finally, in 1978, they gave permission for the release of this recording on the condition that it would be the fourth recording of a new interpretation of the work. However, Britten was no longer with us. Due to his health problems, Curzon never made another recording, and this album was released as a memorial after his death. Although the Sell and Kertesz recordings were subsequently released, it can be said that this recording with Britten, the only one that Curzon approved of, was the one that Curzon sought for No. 27 and No. 20.

Britten, who performed with Curzon in the two Mozart works widely known as his best Mozart works, is, needless to say, one of the most famous composers of the 20th century, and a British master conductor and pianist who was also active outside his own compositions. As a conductor, Britten recorded his own works with the English Chamber Orchestra, a regular participant in the Oldborough Music Festival since 1961, as well as J.S. Bach and many other works. He recorded most of the major symphonies of Mozart, whom he loved the most.

Schubert’s Schubert, which can only be heard on this LP, has been newly mastered and recorded.
This LP includes Schubert’s “Musikfest, ” which Curzon also concentrated on performing, and which has never been released on Super Audio CD. It has been newly mastered using the Esoteric Mastering Center’s equipment and cables. His Schubert playing is another highlight of this LP, and it is an enjoyable track full of Curzon’s charm.

The LP offers a more attractive sound space than the usual Decca sound, which makes it even more enjoyable to play.
The recording engineer is Kenneth Wilkinson. He is the proud successor to Gordon Parry, who worked on the famous “Ring of the Nibelung. The Moulings is a concert hall in Snape, Suffolk in eastern England, originally built as a brewery in the 19th century, and since 1967 it has been the main venue for the Oldborough Music Festival, Since 1967, it has been the main venue for the Oldborough Music Festival, where most of Britten’s performances in his later years took place, including the Brandenburg Concerto, the John Passion, and symphonies by Mozart and Schubert.

The sound here is also the most fascinating aspect of this work. It is different from the usual Decca sound. It is clear, well-separated, lustrous, and dynamic. The sound here is the same sound that fascinated not only music fans but also audiophiles in the analog era, with the addition of beautiful resonance, warmth, blending of the various instruments, and smooth sound quality. The goal was achieved by remastering the CDs at ESOTERIC’s Mastering Center. This time, we hope you will experience more than just a good sound, but also a sense of the atmosphere of the hall, which is expressed in the breathing and pauses in the performance, through the LP.

Newly remastered for analog records
The original master was newly mastered exclusively for analog records using Esoteric Mastering. The Master Sound Discrete DAC, Master Sound Discrete Clock, and MEXCEL cables were used to create a master that was carefully tuned for the highest sound quality. For analog cutting, Mixer’s Lab used a Neumann VMS80 cutting race, a famous machine from the heyday of analog. This machine was manufactured in West Germany, and currently only two units are in operation in Japan. With the cooperation of Mixer’s Lab, we brought the Esoteric Mastering equipment into the cutting room and connected the output directly to a Neumann SP79C cutting console. The output is directly connected to a Neumann SP79C cutting console. The Esoteric Mastering sound is sent directly to the cutting process without using the console’s equalizer.

Cutting is performed by Mr. Katsutoshi Kitamura, a cutting engineer at Mixer’s Lab. He put his mastering skills into the master disc. Nowadays, master discs are only cut for record pressings, and it is rare to cut a lacquer disc just for audition purposes. The lacquer discs were then brought back to the ESOTERIC Mastering Center, where they were auditioned and checked for sound quality on ESOTERIC’s Grandioso T1 analog turntable to determine the optimal transmission method. The recordings were created with thorough attention to the analog sound, and the information contained in the original masters was successfully transferred to analog vinyl with a stretched sound.

Recorded tracks

Disc 1
Side A

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466
Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466

Band 1 1st movement: Allegro
Band 2 2nd movement: Romance

Side B
Band 1 3rd movement: Rondo.

Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat major, K. 595
Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat major, K. 595

Band 2 1st movement: Allegro

Disc 2
Side A

Band 1 2nd movement: Larghetto
Band 2 3rd movement: Allegro

Side B

Franz Schubert
Franz Schubert
Moments musicaux, Op. 94, D. 780
Moments musicaux, Op. 94, D. 780

Band 1 No. 1 in C major, No. 1 in C major: Moderato
Band 2 No. 2 in A flat major: Andantino
Band 3 No. 3 in F minor: Allegro moderato
Band 4 No. 4 in C sharp minor: Moderato
Band 5 No. 5 in F minor: Allegro vivace
Band 6 No. 6 in A flat major: Allegretto

Sir Clifford Curzon, Piano
Sir Clifford Curzon, Piano

English Chamber Orchestra (Mozart)
English Chamber Orchestra

Conducted by Benjamin Britten (Mozart)
Conducted by Benjamin Britten

[Original Recording]
[Recordings] September 24, 1970 (No. 20), September 25, 1970 (No. 27), February 4-6, 1971 (Schubert) Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Suffolk, England
[Producer] Ray Minshall
[Recording Engineers] Kenneth Wilkinson, Peter Van Bean (Schubert)
[First release] SXL 7007 (1982) Mozart, DECCA SXL6523 Schubert (1971)
[Japanese LP] LONDON L28C-1411 (1983) Mozart LONDON SLC-2150 (1972) Schubert

[Analog record]
[Remastering] November 2025 Esoteric Mastering Center, “Esoteric Mastering” system
[Produced by] Motoaki OMACHI (Esoteric Mastering Center)
[Associate Producer] Minoru Yoshida (Esoteric Mastering Center)
[Remastering Engineer] Shinya Higashino (ESOTERIC Mastering Center)
[Cutting Engineer] Katsutoshi Kitamura (Mixer’s Lab Inc.)
[Commentary] Kozo Asazato
[Planning and sales] TEAC Corporation
[Planning and Cooperation] Tokyo Denka Co.