As well as his Mozart scholarship and completions of major unfinished works such as the Requiem and the C minor Mass, Robert Levin somehow finds time to be a pianist - one of his specialisms being, naturally, Mozart. In this Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment programme under Roger Norrington he played two works: the Piano Concerto No 24 in C minor and, in chamber mode, the Quintet for Piano and Wind.
Since Levin was using a modern copy of a period instrument, his tone in the concerto was inevitably swamped by the sizeable orchestral forces arrayed around him. He made his mark not only by playing almost throughout, but by introducing some apt decoration of the melodic material. He also improvised his own cadenzas, coming up with convincing material for both. Norrington directed from the sidelines, though Mozart would have undertaken this task from the keyboard. Perhaps that should be Levin's next step.
His instrument proved a more equal partner in the Quintet, a work Mozart regarded as the finest he had written up to that date (1784). It's a charmer, and Levin's commitment showed in the zeal with which he played it, with a strong lineup of wind soloists matching him effectively.
Norrington conducted speedy versions of the Don Giovanni overture to begin the concert and the Prague Symphony to end it. Parts of the symphony sounded driven rather than directed, with a lot of the subtle detail bypassed in a headlong rush to the finish.