Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20 and 21 Tapa dura - 1999

Primera línea

"The D minor Concerto [of Mozart]," wrote Charles Rosen, "is almost as much myth as work of art: when listening to it, as to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, it is difficult at times to say whether we are hearing the work or its reputation, our collective image of it."

Descripción de contraportada

This guide to Mozart's two most popular piano concertos - No. 20 in D minor, K. 466, and No. 21 in C major, K. 467 (the so-called 'Elvira Madigan') - presents the historical background of the works and places them within the context of Mozart's compositional and performance activities at a time when his reputation as both composer and pianist was at its peak. The special nature of the concerto, as both a form and a genre, is explored through a survey of some of the approaches that critics have taken in discussing Mozart's concertos, ranging from analysis of pure structure to representations of the works as metaphors for human dramas. A theory of concerto form provides the basis for detailed accounts of the two concertos. The concluding chapter discusses a wide range of issues of particular interest to modern performers, including historical instruments, orchestra size and seating, cadenzas, basso continuo and improvised embellishments.