Decca Releases Mitsuko Uchida and The Cleveland Orchestra Recording

Mitsuko Uchida, who recently won a Grammy® award for her Mozart concerto recording with the Cleveland Orchestra, returns with both orchestra and composer for her new Decca release. Acting as both soloist and director, Uchida leads Mozart's Piano Concertos nos. 20 in D minor and 27 in B flat major in performances that were recorded live. The album will be exclusively released through the Cleveland Orchestra Store on April 19 and then receive full distribution on May 3, 2011.

Mitsuko Uchida's performances of Mozart have consistently impressed both critics and audiences for decades. Of her performances, The Independent writes: "No pianist conveys the rapture of Mozart quite like Mitsuko Uchida does." When she joins an orchestra as steeped in the traditional of Mozart as the Cleveland Orchestra the results are incomparable. Though Uchida has previously recorded all the Mozart piano concertos, she has chosen to re-visit them with the Cleveland Orchestra in performances, recorded live, during which she acts as both soloist and director with a new and fresh conception of these masterpieces.

Of the performances in April 2010 which have been recorded for this release, the Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote: "Back at Severance Hall this week revisiting two concertos from her recent Mozart cycle, Uchida turns in readings of such eloquence, one has no trouble understanding why they're also being recorded for posterity ... The slow middle movement proves one of those experiences none but Uchida can mastermind, a stroll through some heavenly musical garden, where time and gravity hold no sway. Happily, it's also an experience listeners will soon be able to repeat at home."

Mitsuko Uchida and the Cleveland Orchestra's previous recorded collaboration, Mozart's Piano Concertos nos. 23 & 24, recently won the Grammy® award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance with Orchestra. This high honor was Uchida's first Grammy® win in a career full of accolades. The fact that Uchida and Cleveland are a uniquely brilliant combination should come as no surprise as a previous recording of the Schoenberg Piano Concerto conducted by Pierre Boulez won numerous awards including the Gramophone Award for Best Concerto.

Mitsuko Uchida will return to the US for performances in March and April of 2012, including performances of Mozart concerti and Schubert Sonatas.

www.DeccaClassics.com

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