1001 classical works (The best) III- 1751-1799

Recording

Title: Piano Concertos No. 19 & 27
Performer: Clara Haskil
Director: Ferenc Fricsay
Year: 1957
Length: 30 minutes

Review

We finally come to the last of Mozart's Piano Concertos, and what a great one it is. Piano Concerto No. 27 contains what is possibly one of the most beautiful and original pieces of music by Mozart in its exquisite slow movement.

The very long first movement with its brighter mood and beautiful solo part is also an highlight, and if you have to listen to these two what is the point of leaving the also great third movement out.

It is with pieces like this that we will always wonder what Mozart would have done, had he lived. His musical style is quickly approaching the Romantic and he would surely have had no problem keeping up with Beethoven when the styles changed. But hey he died, so this is all supposition. Fortunately we can still listen to this.

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The work followed by some years the series of highly successful concertos Mozart wrote for his own concerts, and by the time of its premiere Mozart was no longer so prominent a performer on the public stage. It is a popular assumption that this concerto was first performed at a concert on 4 March 1791 in Jahn's Hall by Mozart and by a clarinetist Joseph Bähr. Seen from today's state of scholarship however there is absolutely no proof that Mozart actually performed K. 595 on this day. The concert might well have been premiered by Mozart's pupil Barbara Ployer on the occasion of a public concert at the Auersperg palace in January 1791.
This was Mozart's last appearance in a public concert, as he took ill in September 1791 and died on 5 December 1791.

Aleksandar Madžar (Bösendorfer piano)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by André Previn :