This writing started with a dear friend who wanted to loan a CD of pianist Emil Gilels having heard his rendition of Rachmaninov Predule No 23 Op 5 on uTube. I found that I only have a single CD of this pianist and in it was Emil Gilels playing Mozart Piano Concerto No 27 with Karl Bohm conducting the Vienna Symphonic Orchestra. It jogged my memory that this piece was one of my favorites as I have 6 variations of this piece in my collection just that time did not permit me to explore the circumstances behind this piece. With some time on hand, I decided to listen to all 6 versions and surprised me that this piece is normally performed with the pianist as the prima dona of sort with the pianist playing the role of the soloist and conductor in some of the circumstances. So there is no question on who rules the stage.
I am listening to all the 6 versions as I pen this and it surprises me that my collection consisted of many famous pianist.
1. Emil Gilels with Karl Bohm conducting Vienna Symphonic Orchestra (Time Magazine Supplement)
2. Mitsuko Uchida with Jeffrey Tate conducting English Chamber Orchestra-Philips 475 7306
3.Christoph Eschenbach playing and conducting London Philharmonic Orchestra-EMI 0946 3 81793 2 0
4.Daniel Barenboim playing and conducting English Chamber Orchestra-EMI 7243 5 86632 2 8
5.Rudolf Serkin with Claudo Abbado conducting English Symphony Orchestra-DG 445 516-2
6.Peter Schmalfuss and Stanislav Bogunia conducting Westbohmisches Staatorchester Marienbald
You can see from above that there is a mixture between separate and combined soloists/conductor and this makes for interesting listening session.
Child prodigy Mozart started piano lessons at 4 and was already performing publicly from between the ages 6-8 but died at a tender age of 35 after leaving a legacy of about 600 compositions. Some say that it is the life in your years that matters more than the years in your life. Of this he left us with a total of 27 piano concertos but the first 4 is generally regarded as amalgamation of other works by other composers. Another interesting point being that his piano concertos covers almost an entire spectrum of his life from his childhood to the year of his death in 1791.
It is believed that Mozart has always had a very bad commotion about his Requiem as it was his belief that its completion is likely to mark his final days on earth but it was actually this piano concerto to have this infamy not that this is piano concerto is his last compisition as there are more to follow. He is likely to have completed the piece around January 1791 and he premiered the concerto himself around March 1791 and died in December 1791. Although this concerto is keyed in the major scale and have a reasonable dosage of gayness, the second movement would reveal a veneer of melancholy especially in the slower portion of the second movement. The final movement also seems to end on a certain finality as if to signify his final concerto.
Although Mozart is known to be sloppy and fickle minded in his concertos normally leaving the cadenzas little much than an empty sheet. For this concerto, the cadenzas in both the first and last movements were very well documented and perhaps that he has a pre-motion that this might be his last piano concerto and wanted to have it documented properly for posterity.
Mozart also made contribution to the concerto genre by breaking the traditional mould of alternation between the soloist and orchestra with the orchestra having a very minor accompaniment part. Mozart not only added many more instruments like the famous clarinet concerto K622, he also broke away from the old mould and created interesting harmony for the soloist and the orchestra to blend rather than alternate. This influence is to be continued by later composers like Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov and we have Mozart to thank for this development.
Finale Mozart and though you were to die rather inappropriately for your part in music development in the form of a re-cycled casket and a pauper's mass grave, we salute your contribution.
Safe Harbor. Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Peter Lye