 | Project 366 continues in 2019 with "The Classical Collectionss - A Continued journey through the Western Classical Music Repertoire". Read more here. |
To begin
our Classical Collection survey, I thought I’d start with the corpus of 27
“numbered” piano concertos by Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart.
For a long
time relatively neglected, Mozart wrote 23 original concertos for piano and
orchestra – the first four “numbered” concerti are generally viewed as learning
exercises, where Mozart adapted piano sonatas by contemporary composers popular
in the day for piano with orchestral accompaniment. Three more concertos (K.107/1, 2 and 3), which are not numbered, are arrangements of piano sonatas by
J.C. Bach (Op 5. Nos. 2, 3, and 4, all composed by 1766).
Starting
with the Piano Concerto no. 5, scholars agree that the works are indeed
original, many of which Mozart composed for himself to play in the Vienna
concert series of 1784–86, held special importance for him. They are recognised
as among his greatest achievements.
Our
Collection survey considers only the 27 “numbered” piano concertos; concerto no.
7 is for three (or two) pianos and orchestra, and no. 10 is for two pianos and
orchestra. Here is the list, with references to pas Listener Guides
(hyperlinked) and forward-references to the ten new guides proposed in this
installment.
Piano
Concerto No. 1 in F, K. 37 [Guide
# 245]
Piano
Concerto No. 2 in Bb, K. 39 [Guide # 155]
Piano
Concerto No. 3 in D, K. 40 [Guide
# 246]
Piano
Concerto No. 4 in G, K. 41 [Guide # 156]
Piano
Concerto No. 5 in D, K. 175 [Guide # 155]
Piano
Concerto No. 6 in Bb, K. 238 [Guide # 155]
Piano Concerto
No. 7 in F, for 3 pianos, K. 242 ('Lodron')(*) [Guide
# 247]
Piano
Concerto No. 8 in C ('Lützow') K. 246 [Guide
# 157]
Piano
Concerto No. 9 in Eb, K. 271 ('Jeunehomme') [Guide
# 248]
Piano
Concerto No. 10 in Eb, for 2 pianos, K. 365 [Guide
# 249]
Piano
Concerto No. 11 in F, K. 413 [Guide # 155]
Piano
Concerto No. 12 in A, K. 414 [Guide
# 247]
Piano
Concerto No. 13 in C, K. 415 [Guide
# 248]
Piano
Concerto No. 14 in Eb, K. 449 [Guide
# 248]
Piano
Concerto No. 15 in Bb, K. 450 [Guide
# 247]
Piano
Concerto No. 16 in D major, K. 451 [Guide
# 250]
Piano
Concerto No. 17 in G major, K. 453 [Guide # 118]
Piano
Concerto No. 18 in B-flat major ('Paradis'), K. 456 [Guide # 250]
Piano
Concerto No. 19 in F major, K. 459 [Guide
# 250]
Piano
Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466 [Guide
# 251]
Piano
Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467 [Guide
# 252]
Piano
Concerto No. 22 in E-flat major, K. 482 [Guide
# 253]
Piano
Concerto No. 23 in A major, K. 488 [Guide
# 253]
Piano
Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491 [Guide
# 251]
Piano
Concerto No. 25 in C major, K. 503 [Guide
# 253]
Piano
Concerto No. 26 in D major, "Coronation", K. 537 [Guide # 254]
Piano
Concerto No. 27 in B-flat major, K. 595 [Guide
# 251]
(*) Version
for 2 pianos
Your
Listener Guides
Listener Guide #
245 – Mozart “Number One” Montage
[Concerto
#1] For Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “number one” montage we have combined the
first symphony, first violin and piano concerti, first piano sonata and first
divertimento for strings (ITYWLTMT
Montage # 26 – 14 October 2011)
Listener Guide #
246 – More Mozart “2-3-4”
[Concerto #3]
This 2-3-4 sequence of Mozart concerti sees
the « 3 » spot occupied by one of Mozart’s four « student » concerti. It
is believed these works adapt movements (in order) by Leontzi Honauer, Johann
Gottfried Eckard and Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach. (ITYWLTMT
Montage # 288 – 24 August 2018)
Listener Guide # 247
– Radu Lupu, Murray Perahia & Mozart
[Concerti #7,
12 & 15] In 1776, Mozart composed three piano concertos, one of which was
the Concerto in F for Three Pianos and Orchestra. The concerto is often
nicknamed "Lodron" because it was commissioned by Countess Antonia
Lodron to be played with her two daughters Aloysia and Giuseppa. When he
eventually revised it for himself and another pianist in 1780 in Salzburg, he
rearranged it for two pianos, and that is how the piece is performed here. (ITYWLTMT
Montage # 207 – 7 August 2015)
Listener Guide # 248
– Mitsuko Uchida & Mozart
[Concerti #9,
13 & 14] Born in Atami, a seaside town close to Tokyo, Mitsuko Uchida moved
to Vienna, with her diplomat parents when she was 12 years old, after her
father was named the Japanese ambassador to Austria. She enrolled at the Vienna
Academy of Music to study with Richard Hauser, and later Wilhelm Kempff and
Stefan Askenase, and remained in Vienna to study when her father was
transferred back to Japan after five years. She gave her first Viennese recital
at the age of 14 at the Vienna Musikverein. She also studied with Maria Curcio,
the last and favourite pupil of Artur Schnabel. (ITYWLTMT
Montage # 205 – 10 July 2015)
Listener Guide # 249
– Double Play/ Double Jeu: Mozart & Mendelssohn
[Concerto #10]
We sample three double concerti: Mozart’s Flute and Harp concerto, Mozart's
concerto for two pianos, and Mendelssohn’s early concerto for piano and violin
with strings. (ITYWLTMT
Montage # 71 – 14 Sept. 2012)
Listener Guide # 250
– Géza Anda & Mozart
[Concerti #16,
18 & 19] Mozart composed the Concerto No. 16 for performance at a series of
concerts at the Vienna venues of the Trattnerhof and the Burgtheater in the
first quarter of 1784, where he was himself the soloist. No. 18 is nicknamed
“Paradis” in reference to Maria Theresia Paradis (1759 –1824), an Austrian
pianist and composer who lost her sight at an early age, and for whom Mozart
may have written this Piano Concerto. As was the case for the “Jeune Homme”
concerto we sampled earlier, Mozart’s personal papers lead some scholars to
attribute this to unsubstantiated folklore. (ITYWLTMT
Montage # 208 – 21 August 2015)
Listener Guide #
251 – Clara Haskil& Mozart
[Concerti #20,
24 & 27] A celebrated interpreter of classical and early romantic
repertoire, Clara Haskil was particularly noted for her performances and
recordings of W.A. Mozart. Many considered her the foremost interpreter of W.A.
Mozart in her time. One of her most prominent performances as a soloist with an
orchestra is a recording of Mozart's Piano Concertos Nos. 20 and 24 in November
1960 with Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux conducted by Igor Markevitch; this
recording features an unusually slow, pensive performance of K.466's third
movement and a very subtle, highly lyrical and yet, in some way, vigorous
playing of K.491's second movement. The montage is completed with a performance
of the concerto no. 27.. (ITYWLTMT
Montage # 206 – 24 July 2015)
Listener Guide # 252 – Mozart & Bartók
[Concerto #21]
Although he played very little Mozart in his early career, Géza Andabecame the
first pianist to record the full cycle of Mozart's piano concerti (recorded
between 1961 and 1969, with himself conducting from the keyboard). His
recording of Mozart’s K. 467 concerto on the soundtrack of the 1967 film Elvira
Madigan led to the epithet "Elvira Madigan" often being applied to
the concerto. (ITYWLTMT
Montage # 40 – 27 January 2012)
Listener Guide # 253
– Vladimir Ashkenazy & Mozart
[Concerti
#22, 23 & 25] The Piano Concerto No. 22 in E♭ major, K. 482,
composed in December 1785, is the first piano concerto of Mozart's to include
clarinets in its scoring. The Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major (K. 488) was
finished, according to Mozart's own catalogue, on March 2, 1786, two months
prior to the premiere of his opera, Le nozze di Figaro. The Piano Concerto No.
25 in C major, K. 503 is widely recognized as "one of Mozart's greatest
masterpieces in the concerto genre." (ITYWLTMT
Montage # 300 – 4 January 2019)
Listener Guide # 254
– The Crown
[Concerto #26]
Mozart's coronation concerto wasn't
commissioned for a coronation ceremony - rather, the nickname comes from his
playing the work at the time of the coronation of Leopold II as Holy Roman
Emperor in October 1790. (ITYWLTMT
Montage # 55 – 18 May 2012)
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