In 1786, Mozart aimed to satisfy his own artistic goals rather than the relatively conservative Viennese audience, pushing the piano concerto form to new depths.
Compositional Technique
Mozart's Concerto in A major (No. 23, K 488) incorporates elements from 'Figaro', such as repeating bars or phrases, treating instrumental groups as vying characters, and rapid shifts between major and minor keys.
Composer Biography
Mozart wrote the Recitative and Aria 'Ch'io mi scordi di te? Non temer, amato bene' as a personal farewell for Nancy Storace, the singer who created the role of Susanna in 'Figaro', when she left for London.
Composition History
The creative energy from Mozart's opera 'Le nozze di Figaro' (The Marriage of Figaro), the first of three collaborations with librettist Lorenzo da Ponte, influenced the piano concertos that followed it.
Interpretation
Pianist Leif Ove Andsnes, the performer on this recording, positions himself in the middle of the orchestra with no piano lid to facilitate dialogue and respond to Mozart's rapid emotional shifts.
Compositional Technique
Mozart's Concerto in C minor (No. 24, K 491) features his largest orchestra yet for a concerto, including oboes and clarinets, and explores all twelve notes of the chromatic scale within its first eleven bars.
Composition History
Mozart wrote concertos in miniature by combining a piano with three strings, mitigating the economic risk of his Viennese concert series.
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