Sample programme note
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1753 – 1791)
Piano Concerto No. 15 in B flat K450 (1784)
Allegro
Andante
Allegro
'They are both concerti to make you sweat!' declared Mozart of his 15th and 16th piano concertos. Not simply a challenge for performer and audience, they also exemplify Mozart’s own creative fervour: he wrote the works in a two month period that spawned four of the ten concertos written in the last decade of his life. His numerous amendments to the original scores also show that Mozart found their composition just as demanding as the soloist finds their performance.
The concertos date from Mozart’s time in Vienna, where he lived from 1781 until the end of his life. His increasing fascination with the genre parallels the development of the instrument itself, allowing Mozart to compose more ambitious works as the instrument's technological capabilities were expanded. The final seven piano concerti from his time in Vienna are the pinnacle of this achievement, rich in virtuosity and originality and far exceeding the scale of his contemporaries' works. Alongside this expansion of the genre, Mozart also raised the profile of the instrumental concerto from simply a vehicle for virtuosity to a sophisticated means of personal expression.
It is quite astonishing that, alongside these immense achievements, Mozart was also in demand as a concert pianist, at one time performing 22 concerts in 38 days and declaring: 'I don’t think that in this way I can possibly get out of practice!' Of course, performing as the soloist himself had its advantages: knowing his own capabilities, Mozart was able to tailor the works to suit himself, producing dazzling feats of virtuosity that few pianists at the time were capable of. Sadly, by 1789, Mozart’s reception was waning, with one critic declaring: 'Mozart's music did not make much sensation among the public. It is for the connoisseur who knows how to appreciate and unravel its refinements rather than for the dilettante who... judges only the first and immediate impression.'
With a wider range of musicians at his disposal in Vienna, Mozart was also able to extend the scoring of his concerti; K450 displays a new confidence in orchestration with his elaborate part-writing for wind instruments, whilst K451 even includes trumpets and drums. At times, the B flat major concerto even verges on the symphonic, with a close, integrated dialogue between orchestra and piano and a more developmental method of thematic exploration as opposed to simple restatement. Even the introduction of the concerto breaks with tradition, with short antiphonal piano exchanges between woodwind and strings paving the way for a cascade of semiquavers into the dramatic forte orchestral exposition. The delicate, lilting Andante in E flat major leads into a jaunty finale — a jaunty dance in 6/8 in which the orchestra now takes a far more subsidiary role. After a several forays into distant keys, culminating in the piano’s final cadenza, the piano drives the work to its firm B flat conclusion and a triumphant forte finish.
© Jo Kirkbride