[6/3/2012] How a "second-tier" Mozart piano concerto can command top-tier attention (continued)

New York Concert Artists put together this promotional video for last year's Evenings of Piano Concerti (EPC III).


OKAY, LET'S JUST GO AHEAD
AND LISTEN TO THE CONCERTO


MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 12 in A, K. 414

i. Allegro

When I described K. 414 as a "second-tier" Mozart piano concerto -- trying to make clear that this didn't mean that I think it's second-rate -- maybe the simplest way to explain is that there's nothing immediately or automatically grabbing about the musical materials. It's left to the performers to make those materials grab and hold the listener's attention.


Rudolf Serkin, piano; London Symphony Orchestra, Claudio Abbado, cond. DG, recorded November 1981

Alfred Brendel, piano; Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras, cond. Philips, recorded Aug. 5-11, 2004

ii. Andante

We have two very nice but obviously very different performances of the lovely J. C. Bach-inspired slow movement.


Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, Géza Anda, piano and cond. DG, recorded May 1965

Philharmonia Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy, piano and cond. Decca, recorded October 1980

iii. Rondo: Allegretto

And again, though not quite as starkly contrasting, we have a "more impulsive" and a "more measured" performance. (The tempo marking, note, isn't one or another form of the typically rondo-esque "allegro" but a more moderate Allegretto.)


Annerose Schmidt, piano; Dresden Philharmonic, Kurt Masur, cond. Eurodisc/Berlin Classics, recorded May 5-7, 1976

András Schiff, piano; Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, Sándor Végh, cond. Decca, recorded June 1986


RETURN TO THE BEGINNING OF THE POST

#