Lars Vogt - Mozart: Piano Concertos No. 21 & No. 27 (2013) [Official Digital Download]

Vienna 1785: „Wolfgang Amadeus would compose in his workroom and music seemed to flow from his pen. Soon he would write the opera Le Nozze di Figaro in these same quarters. He had just put the finishing touches on a new piano concerto: festive C Major, luxurious scoring including trumpets and timpani (K467). It was premièred on 12 March 1785 during one of the so-called “academy” concerts. Leopold, the father, was present and could hardly curb his enthusiasm: “The concerto was sensational, the orchestra first-rate”, he wrote to his daughter. He was also impressed by the music’s sheer technical difficulty: “Here, the pianist truly has something to keep his hands moving: one has to concede that this new concerto is surprisingly difficult”. However, this is not a work where Mozart lay particular emphasis on virtuoso aplomb; rather, the C-Major-Concerto draws its energy from “cheerful, open-hearted joy”, as Lars Vogt puts it, “at least in the outer movements. The middle movement, the well-known Andante, seems to contain a vision of paradise – this is an absolutely moving piece of music, provided one manages to create the illusion that it emerges out of nothingness”. Here, once more, we have the ingenious “Mozart Effect”: a beauty plain and simple, without ever descending into vulgarity. … When he was working on the first movement cadenza, his daughter – then four years old – was attempting to conquer the piano keys. A short little melody emerged from her first attempts, “and I incorporated it into my cadenza, concealing it at one point in the left-hand part”.

Vienna 1791: “Piano Concerto K595 in B Flat Major is from 1791, the last year of Mozart’s life. Long gone were those blissful days in the lovely Domgasse quarters. Mozart’s star was shining less brightly now, and luxury had to be curbed. Vienna had laid at his feet, now it had found new favorites. Mozart was no longer able to finance his “academy” concerts from his own pocket. The only musical commissions he received in early 1791 were a few meagre tasks including a series of dances for court ballrooms. But Mozart nevertheless finished writing his Concerto in B Flat Major. Whether it was performed by the composer or by a female pupil remains unknown: our most important biographical source, the lively correspondence with his father, had run dry four years earlier. “For me, this concerto is tinged with melancholy through and through. One can tell that this is his last piano concerto – even in the supposedly cheerful themes, as in the last movement. The mood becomes increasingly con spirito”. Thus, Lars Vogt attempts here to explore the mood of “crying while laughing”, since the piano part foregoes any sort of finery or aplomb. “It draws its energy from inner expression”. The orchestration is also less flamboyant: Mozart leaves out the timpani and trumpets this time….“ (Excerpt from the liner notes)

Tracklist:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)

01. Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467: I. Allegro maestoso
02. Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467: II. Andante
03. Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467: III. Allegro vivace assai
04. Piano concerto No. 27 in B-Flat Major K. 595: I. Allegro
05. Piano concerto No. 27 in B-Flat Major K. 595: II. Larghetto
06. Piano concerto No. 27 in B-Flat Major K. 595: III. Allegro

Personnel:
Lars Vogt, piano
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra
Paavo Järvi, conductor