Arranger Franz Kullak Foreword dated This file is part of the Sibley Mirroring Project. Editor Edwin Fischer — Kurt Soldan Edition Peters , n. Arranger Hugo Ulrich — Robert Wittmann ? This file is part of the Sibley Mirroring Project.

Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466

Arranger Charles-Valentin Alkan — Simon Richault , n. Arranger Moritz Moszkowski — The Etude Magazine , July We should hear more of the older classics. Arranger Henry Maylath — Arranger Ludwig van Beethoven — Ernst Eulenburg , n. This file is from the MIT archive project. Arranger Johannes Brahms — I provide the original scanned version and the filtered, because the filter does some changes smoothening, sharpening borders and some portions of the scan get lost sometimes when they are too small e.

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Piano Concerto No. 20 (Mozart)

Arranger Bart van Oort. Please, send me an email if you perform it it is absolutely free but it's just for my information. Arranger Clara Schumann — Bogus copyright claim of Actual publication was much earlier. As late as Abraham Veinus pronounced in his survey of The Concerto that the 20th was really the only popular Mozart concerto. In contrast to the prevalent, if misguided, perception of his other work as refined, decorative, tedious, smooth and uninvolving, its persistent minor tonality, rumbling discontent, rich orchestration including trumpets and kettledrums , stormy outbursts and pungent textural contrasts spoke forcefully to the coming age of revolution, freedom and individuality.

Mozart's autograph of the opening of K. The impulse for Mozart to have created the 20th is curious indeed and perhaps forever beyond our knowledge. While it is tempting to relate it to a newfound maturity or dark events in his life, biographers caution that such efforts are deceptive — Mozart wrote many of his most upbeat works at times of depression and searching ones during periods of contentment. Indeed, he often wrote his piano concerti in pairs and the very next one, 21 in C Major, K.

Its middle movement was used in the Swedish romantic movie Elvira Madigan , by which title the work has since become known. In any event, Arthur Hutchins warns that since we don't know how long a given work gestated before it appeared, a precise set of stimuli is impossible to trace. The mature Mozart piano concertos share a common general structure.

The first movements feature four ripienos that bracket two solo segments and the cadenza , through which the forces engage in a complex interplay of competition and cooperation, challenging and feeding off each other's themes, harmonies and rhythms. The second movements are andantes , slow, relaxing respites often led by the piano in which the former strife is supplanted by lustrous calm and fluid grace. The finales are rondos , in which orchestra and solo alternate sections in a collaboration that moves toward an invigorating and fully edifying finish.

The splendor of K. The opening piano theme As analyzed by Alfred Einstein, Mozart's sharp distinction between solo and tutti in the first movement remains strongly contrasted without compromise or resolution; indeed, after an especially forceful introduction the piano enters with a gentle tune that it never shares and with good reason — its wide leaping intervals are uniquely suited to the keyboard and would sound awkward on any other instrument. The theme of the romanza A further point of distinction is that the movement ends not in customary elation but gently, as if the contestants were exhausted after their uncommonly taxing exertions.

The second movement is a strophic romanza whose customary tranquility at first seems reinforced by its B-flat major key and the support that piano and orchestra provide each other by passing around and even completing each other's phrases, but then is torn by a strong central agitated section in g-minor.

Free sheet music KV , (Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus) Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor

The opening of the rondo The rondo intensifies the passion chromatically right up to the cadenza , after which the work delivers its final surprise by wrapping up in D major with a notably trite tune, an uncanny and perhaps snide bow to audience expectation, as if Mozart had finally given them their simplistic upbeat ending. Mozart's only other minor-key concerto, 24 in c-minor, K. The offbeat pattern is set at the very outset as the celli and basses repeat an abrupt growling phrase while the other strings throb with persistent syncopation that constantly points to d minor and only slowly grows to a climax that pounds out the minor key tonality and four-square rhythm; as Hutchings aptly observes, it vibrates with nervous energy that remains as a smoldering fire beneath all that follows.

Throughout the rest of the first ritornello , the orchestra alternately teases with soft, alluring phrases, only to reject its own suggestion of calm with brash outbursts of snarling fanfares and assertive figures. Thus the stage is set for a challenging and complex relationship before the piano is even heard. Alone among the Mozart concertos, the 20th cast a strong and lasting influence. Veinus notes that it served as a springboard for the turbulence of Beethoven's capitulation to the tragic muse which, The start of Beethoven's dramatic cadenza in turn, revolutionized serious music as we know it and paved the way to the music of the next century.

Indeed, it comes as no surprise that Beethoven played the work, going so far as to write out his own cadenzas which, as reflections of his own overpowering personality, exploit the dramatic implications of the material at the expense of its inherent elegance and occasional charm, bearing less stylistic similarity to the cadenzas Mozart left us for other of his concerti, which tended to be bright and often a brief fantasy built on a subsidiary theme.

Mozart never wrote out cadenzas for this work, as he had for his nine prior concerti, for a simple and practical reason — preparations for the February 11, premiere were so rushed that the copyist was still working on the orchestral parts as the audience arrived, and so Mozart improvised on the spot.

Nor did he get a chance to rehearse the rondo , so even with the usual allowances for first performances of unfamiliar music, this one must have been especially rough. As most concerts of the time boasted new work, and as this one was an academie — part of a subscription series in which Mozart introduced his music to well-heeled patrons — Mozart may have never performed the 20th again but merely moved on to introduce other concerti in subsequent concerts.

Indeed, John Culshaw has suggested that the thinness of the solo part in the andante is deceptive, as it may not reflect the full piano role that Mozart had intended and actually played, but rather is a mere outline that he planned to flesh out during the performance and never bothered to complete. Even so, we know that at least one member of the audience was hugely impressed — the next day, Joseph Haydn, the most respected musician of the time, proclaimed Mozart to be the greatest composer he knew.

Other composers would go on to develop the piano concerto into a vehicle for a wide range of individualized expression, emphasizing drama Beethoven , symphonic elements Brahms , lyricism Chopin , wit Poulenc , satire Shostakovich , deep emotion Bartok , beauty Rachmaninoff and even jazz Gershwin. But rather than view Mozart's work as a primitive forebear of all that was to follow, or even to hail it as the generator of so many possibilities, perhaps it is better to accept it on its own terms as a unique moment when all its components fit together without any one threatening to dominate the others.

The First-Movement Cadenzas for Mozart Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K. 466

The great musicologist and Mozart scholar Alfred Einstein perhaps best summed up this view by regarding the Mozart concerti as the end of the line — a perfect fusion of elements that created a higher unity and still raises listeners to a higher level, an achievement "beyond which no progress was possible, because perfection is imperfectible. Mozart was widely considered the greatest pianist of his time.

How did he play his own work? While others' descriptions often are partisan, vague and of varying reliability, fortunately Mozart left us copious correspondence in which he freely praised and disparaged his colleagues and thus provides a remarkably full portrait of his own ideals, which presumably he followed when performing himself. After all, he wrote nearly all of his piano pieces for the purpose of personal performance, and so clearly they suit his own aesthetic intentions and exhibit his own strengths and inclinations.

As catalogued by Harold Schonberg, Mozart straddled and served as a transition between the rigid mechanics and florid ornamentation of his Baroque forebears and the expressive freedom and permissive inflection of the Romantic age that was to follow. While he insisted upon technical accuracy and precision, he had no tolerance for virtuosity unless it was to be applied with moderation and taste and placed at the service of the music.

Yet, the result was not to be dry or mechanical, nor slavish adherence to the written score, as Mozart was known for liberally embellishing his own work during performances as a famed improviser. Fortepiano after Stein by D. Jacques Way, Stonington, courtesy Carey Beebe Harpsichords He sat at the center of the keyboard and maintained a calm demeanor without facial gestures. Tempos were to be strictly maintained, with no speed or slowing for emphasis or variation in repeated sections.

All legato was to be in the right hand, and then temperate and regulated, so the notes "flowed like oil" without distending the basic pulse. Each extended note was to be held for its full value, without emphatic clipping. Translating all these ideals into an authentic modern performance presents a fundamental challenge, dependent upon the availability of suitable instruments. Mozart himself preferred Stein pianos for their ruggedness, the quality of their workmanship and the purity of their tone — no "jiggling or vibration" when notes were struck.

Mozart wrote his mature concertos for the fortepiano, an early version of the piano we now know. While it supplanted the uniform, delicate plucked sonority of the harpsichord with hammers and an escape action, it had a light wooden frame, leather hammers, and plain brass and iron wire strings that produced a far more delicate sonority, more restrained dynamics and a smoother, singing tone than the cast-iron frame, felt hammers and copper-wound and chromium steel strings of the modern concert grand, which encourages flashier and more muscular playing. That, in turn, raises the question of approach.

As Girdlestone notes, a graceful delicate style tends to belittle the piece, while an overtly daring method leaps over its depths. A special concern is the matter of continuo. Mozart "conducted" from the keyboard amid the orchestra, not with the manual gestures of today but by playing chords throughout the orchestral sections.

W. A. Mozart - KV 466 - Keyboard Concerto No. 20 in D minor

While a necessity at the time to ensure cohesion, now the continuo tends to thicken the texture and lessen the distinctiveness of the solo passages and, while included in the published scores, is rarely if ever used. Yet, the fact remains that Mozart wrote all his keyboard concerti in the expectation that the continuo would be played and heard. Although modern printed versions generally omit the continuo part altogether, Mozart reportedly indicated "tasto solo" at certain junctions of his manuscript to indicate when he was to fall silent, or when he was to play just the bass note rather than build a chord, mostly to avoid disrupting the delicate wind-dominated segments.

By design, the closest approach to Mozart's ethos lies in the many original instrument recordings using historical performance practices. The most striking feature to modern ears is the sound of the solo instruments, fortepianos modeled after authentic examples of the time — precise articulation, sharp impact, rapid decay, modest bass and no blurring of mid-range tones.

Their overall texture is readily distinguishable from all the other instruments, affording a wide range of interplay and combinations that enliven the score and put Mozart's ingenuity on display. The orchestras, too, have a sound distinctive from modern ensembles, with fewer and softer strings, rasping but light brass and mellow but emphatic tympani that really punctuate the texture.

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While the winds are largely similar to their modern counterparts, the balance between them and the strings, which dominate current orchestras, give them a far more conspicuous role and restore the careful balance Mozart achieved between what were then relatively comparable forces. Beyond its intrinsic interest as being simply different from the symphonic sound to which we are accustomed, the overall effect enlivens the score with a level of textural fascination that many "big band" renditions with a concert grand cannot achieve.

An added feature of the Nimbus recording is that the fortepiano, functioning not only as solo but continuo , plays along with the orchestra nearly throughout. While the effect at the very opening seems to mitigate its dark, nervous mystery, the discrete chords soon become barely noticeable, adding a slight reminder of the pulse and a mild percussive boost to the texture. The impact from a modern piano would be far more severe and thus wholly out of place. Ironically, the most recent performances give a better indication of Mozart's own aesthetic, whereas the older ones reflect the view of the 19th century when what little attention that was paid to Mozart tended to mold his work into the far different outlook of that time.

While several recordings of Mozart symphonies were made during the acoustical and early electrical eras, the piano concertos apparently were considered a less saleable commodity. The earliest recording of K. A specialist in Bach and Mozart and known for his smooth, gentle touch, Fischer brings a moderate romantic sensibility with constantly varying tempos and gentle but evident transitions; thus the restless central section of the romanze is forceful yet effortlessly integrated into the surrounding lyricism.

Fischer provides his own highly inventive and thoroughly tasteful cadenzas; the one for the rondo , in particular, condenses into 75 seconds an extraordinary voyage from cascading strength through supple contemplation that fully fits the character of the entire movement. Another revival of Mozart's own tradition of conducting from the keyboard came from Bruno Walter and the Vienna Philharmonic in May Lys.

Although primarily known nowadays for his late genial remakes of the symphonic repertoire, Walter's earlier career had been as an ardent romantic, and here he crafts a marvelous opening of atmospheric tension leavened with charm which his sensitive yet ardent solos extend, despite a skewed recording balance in which the piano incongruously tends to overwhelm the full ensemble.

A fascinating complement is found in a November Walter broadcast with the NBC Symphony AS Disc that's swift, crisp and taut — no wonder, as this was Toscanini's orchestra, accustomed to casting sentiment aside in sharp response to his demanding baton. What a difference two minutes and clipped articulation makes! Compared to his Vienna studio recording, the NBC outing startles with coiled tension and driven momentum, constantly throwing off sparks of dynamic vigor in the first movement so that the delicate romanze affords a huge sigh of relief.


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Although hailed at the time of its release for its strong drama, the impression was due almost entirely to its minute pacing rather than rhetorical devices. By adding a over a minute to the routine timings of each of the first two movements, Barenboim created a serious, even severe aura through tempo alone, as the sonority is bright, the ensemble light and the playing agile, if gently inflected with mildly emphatic pauses except for an ample deceleration to prepare for Beethoven's first movement cadenza, which sounds appropriately dark and probing in such a setting — more like commas than semi-colons to suggest rather than mark the structure.