{ program notes
opera, The Marriage of Figaro. Busy creating arias and ensembles for a castle-full of
characters, Mozart apparently had plenty of
melodic ideas left over, for this concerto is
propelled by its melodies, some high-spirited, some heart-wrenching. Here the soloist
is asked not so much to display his digital
dexterity as to play the great opera singer,
especially in the sublime slow movement.
As in most of the late concertos, the
pianist also must share the spotlight with
the orchestra’s woodwind section. Mozart
became more and more intrigued with how
woodwind colors could blend and contrast
with the piano, and for this concerto he
had a pair of his favorite wind instruments,
the round-toned, fruity clarinets, to exploit.
Concerto No. 23 is also filled with an
emotional quality very characteristic of
Mozart: the mood of smiling through
tears. This is heard best in the first movement, which sounds outwardly serene, but
immediately disturbs the atmosphere at the
second chord with its dissonant note troubling the A-Major harmony. “The light of
the movement is one of a March day — the
month in which it was composed — when
a pale sun shines unconvincingly through
fleeting showers,” is how Mozart scholar
Cuthbert Girdlestone poetically described
it. The second theme, introduced soon by
the violins, is rather melancholy and grows
more so as a bassoon and flute join in. As
the exposition section closes, listen for a
quiet, chin-up closing theme in the strings;
from it Mozart will build an expressive
development section.
Smiles give way to tears for the slow
movement, one of Mozart’s greatest and
his only one in the key of F-sharp minor.
The soloist opens with a poignant melody
featuring large intervals in the manner of a
virtuosic 18th-century diva. The orchestra
answers with a more anguished melody,
with achingly beautiful dissonances created
by its clashing contrapuntal lines. Flutes
and clarinets try to brighten the mood in
the middle section. But the tears persist as
the opening music returns and is capped
by a heartbreaking closing coda.
The brilliant rondo finale at last dries
all tears. And finally the pianist can
play the virtuoso as he leads off with the
sparkling rondo theme. But this is just
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one of a quiver-full of melodies Mozart
has ready, and he keeps on shooting fre