Mozart Piano Concerto 20 (1/4) On Period Instruments

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfve1p_B5iQ
John Gibbons Piano Orchestrra of the 18th century Frans Bruggen conductor
The Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1785. The first performance was at the Mehlgrube Casino in Vienna on February 11, 1785, with the composer as the soloist.
The concerto is scored for solo piano, flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani and strings. As is typical with concertos, it is in three movements: 1. Allegro
2. Romanze
3. Allegro assai

The first movement starts off the concerto in the dark tonic key of D minor with the strings restlessly but quietly building up to a full forte. The theme is quickly taken up by the piano soloist and developed throughout the long movement. A slightly brighter mood exists in the second theme, but it never becomes jubilant. The timpani further heightens the tension in the coda before the cadenza. The movement ends on a quiet note.

The 'Romanze' second movement is a seven-part rondo (ABACABA) and begins brightly with a strong B-flat major melody. A contrasting darker section toys with the relative minor key of G minor. The earlier theme is brought in again expectantly towards the end of the movement.

The final movement, a rondo, begins with the solo piano rippling upward in the home key before the full orchestra replies with a furious section. (This piano "rippling" is known as the Mannheim Rocket and is a string of eighth notes (d-f-a-d-f) followed by a quarter note (a). A second melody is touched upon by the piano where the mood is still dark but strangely restless. A contrasting cheerful melody in F major ushers in not soon after, introduced by the orchestra before the solo piano rounds off the lively theme. A series of sharp piano chords snaps the bright melody and then begin passages in D minor on solo piano again, taken up by full orchestra. Thereafter follows the same format as above, with a momentary pause for introducing the customary cadenza. After the cadenza, the mood clears considerably and the bright happy melody is taken up this time by the winds. The solo piano repeats the theme before a full orchestral passage develops the passage and thereby rounding up the concerto with a jubilant D major finish.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Piano
• Concerto
• 20
• in
• minor
• K.
• 466
• Mozart
• Period
• Instruments
• HIP

[Mercer1012]

Where's the pic from?

[elias12186]

From the documentary on BBC about mozart, the 3rd one, Mozart the first romantic

[requiemaeternam7]

jesus you can't even hear the piano under the orchestra. proves that the modern piano is quite a bit more powerful and in many cases wasn't meant to be used for certain stuff from this era

[elias12186]

....

[requiemaeternam7]

i liked it very much though. thank you for uploading. I think what I was trying to say came out wrong. I much prefer this period version. My favorite Mozart concerto is the 23 in A, my favorite performance of it is one on period instruments as well with a fortepiano as that is how it was meant to be played.

[elias12186]

Great, period instruments are the best for Mozart. The piano and orchestra should be pretty well balanced, one shouldn't overwhelm the other.

[JairCrawford]

@mrbrianmccarthy I know, right? I love Mozart's more dark and dramatic works, like this one. But he wrote so few of them.

[Mercer1012]

@Mozartmostly Oh haha, you are SO funny. I see your joke there! Its funny because there was no camera back then (sarcasm). I was merely asking what movie/show the picture was from and I have since found it.

[Mozartmostly]

@Mercer1012 It's a picture of Mozart on the opening night of the Concerto, taken on Feb. 14th 1788.

[erken]

@mrbrianmccarthy What I meant with the "notes rather than [ . . . ] sound" is -- observe Mozart: Most Mozart cannot be played without dampers. He almost always plays without the pedal, much like Rachmaninoff to show superior technique. You can't see dissonance in Mozart's music (even the meterless cadenzas in his K. 397 fantasia and the long quasi-cadenza on K. 271's 3rd movement -- those are to be played with dampers even through the e Cdim6 arpeggio).

[mrbrianmccarthy]

@erken Your comment on Mozart "Only caring for the notes rather than the capacity for sound" is COMPLETELY INCORRECT.Mozart knew all about the "Capacity for sound" of every instrument.THATS why he was such a great orchestrator.And yes,Beethoven loved Clementi,and learned some pianistic tricks from him,but he REVERED Mozart.He copied Mozart scores BY HAND,note for note,and used mozarts motifs in his own music. Mozart influenced Beethoven in every area of music,espicially in the piano concerto.

[erken]

@mrbrianmccarthy Actually, it is safer to say that Beethoven based most pieces and styles from Clementi. What Beethoven did is he kept this in his repertoire (thus the most famous cadenzas used by most pianists). And Mozart adopted styles from others, Haydn, Clementi and such. And with Beethoven -- he actually did experiment with the acoustics of his piano (hence the senza sordini instruction in his Op. 27 no. 2 Sonata), unlike Mozart that cared for the notes rather than the capacities of sound.

[erken]

Even the standardized 440 sounds different . . .

[samdrophy]

Do you think you could upload these guys' recording of K. 491 as well? Thanks so much!

[alexilmagnifico]

very poor conducting....

:/

[mrbrianmccarthy]

Many people feel that Beethoven was the first Romantic,but they're Wrong!MOZART was the first Romantic!!Beethoven merely picked up where Mozart had left off!Had Mozart lived longer, we would've seen a LOT more dramatic minor key works.Sadly,in Mozarts time,the people he played for (The nobility/upper classes)liked Major key music.--They werent too fond of the minor. THATS why Mozart didnt do more minor works,and thats what makes THIS concerto so revolutionary.