Progetto Martha Argerich

italiano

Works

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Concerto in C minor, K. 491

 

With the exception of the Concerto in D minor, K. 466, the Concerto in C minor, K. 491 – completed in Vienna on 24 March 1786 – is Mozart’s only piano concerto written in a minor key. It also requires the fullest orchestra that he used in any of his concerti: one flute, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani and strings. Yet despite the breadth of the instrumentation, the work is essentially intimate, almost chamber music-like, in nature, and this is clear from the very first bars of the opening Allegro – a passage in which the most profound drama is expressed in almost muted tones. The following Larghetto, in C Major, is Elysian in its serenity – a purely contemplative moment that prefigures the transfigured beauty of Mozart’s last masterpieces. The final Allegretto, on the other hand, consists of a series of free variations on a quick, lyrical and rather melancholy march theme. This absolutely perfect finale brings to an end a concerto that is almost unanimously considered to be one of the greatest pieces of instrumental music that Mozart ever composed.

1. Allegro
2. Larghetto
3. Allegretto

Performers

Performance