Thursday 14 August 2008

144. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Concerto no. 21 (1785)


















Recording

Title: Piano Concertos no.21 K.467, no.9 K.271
Performers: Murray Perahia, English Chamber Orchestra
Director: Murray Perahia
Year: 1984
Length: 28 minutes

Review

This concert is very much a companion piece to number 20, it was composed at the same time the orchestration is similar and it is also a masterpiece. Again like in no. 20 the masterpiece is the great slow movement which is one of Mozart's most famous pieces.

That said the whole piece is stupendous and Murray Perahia's performance captures the brilliance of the piece perfectly. Again Mozart is delving into Romantic territory here, while still very much in a classical idiom, there are glimpses of the future throughout the work.

The Piano concerto is often regarded as the medium in which Mozart was at his consistent best, and it is not hard to see why. Great stuff.

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The famous second movement was featured in the 1967 Swedish film Elvira Madigan. The limpid sounds bring to mind a lazy boat ride on a placid lake, which was the imagery used in the movie. This has led to an anachronistic nickname of Elvira Madigan for the concerto. The use of this nickname has decreased in recent years as memories of the seldom-seen Swedish film have faded.

During Marcel Marceau's funeral this was played along with Bach's Cello Suite No. 5.

The Andante:

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