Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Complete Piano Concertos, Vol. 11

THE REVIEW

A recent trip to Salzburg sets the stage and provides inspiration for this review of the first 4 piano concertos written by the young Wolfgang in 1767.

Mozart was born German in Salzburg just 11 years prior, blessed by the god Apollo who would make him one of the most dazzling stars in the European musical firmament.

His father Leopold - to whom history is surely recognizing more merits than condemnations - as a good "family impresario" that he was, promptly recognized the wonderful talents of the child prodigy and decided, consequently, to "exploit them," embarking on an educational journey to the main European courts. The declared objective: to surpass the limits of the provincial archiepiscopal court to show the world that mattered, with "the greatest noise possible," the precocious talent of his two jewels (Wolfgang and his sister Nannerl), not without trivial reasons of profit and prestige acquisition for future court appointments.

And so, for more than three years, among performances verging on the circus-like, as the chronicles of the time or the letters of Leopold himself recount, young Mozart had the opportunity to come into contact with the likes of Schobert, Eckard, Honauer, Raupach, Abel, Johann Christian Bach, names now unknown to many but belonging to illustrious figures of the musical scene and taste of the time. These early contacts, combined with the innate abilities of the young Salzburg native to absorb and reinterpret, would lay the foundations for the cosmopolitanism that characterizes all his work.

The 4 concertos were composed in Salzburg upon returning from this initial trip and, from a strictly compositional point of view, do not represent the pinnacle of eleven-year-old Mozart's production. They are, in fact, reworkings precisely of harpsichord sonatas by those Masters encountered abroad - what we would call covers today - exercises thoughtfully planned by the shrewd Leopold to expand his son's repertoire in anticipation of another trip abroad.

Exercises, however, exceedingly delightful, in which Mozart introduces his personal inventiveness into the orchestral accompaniment, transforming them into little masterpieces with the gift, at once, of originality and the synthesis of an entire era's style; formulas and languages that would be revolutionized by the more mature Mozart himself.

For listening to these little gems, I recommend the economical Naxos edition, in which the omnivorous Jeno Jandó at the piano nails the execution but, above all, the atmosphere and the gallant lightness, pleasantly accompanied by the Concentus Hungaricus directed by the equally unknown Ildiko Hegyi.

There are, of course, more prestigious editions, first and foremost the CBS one with Perahia in the dual role of pianist and conductor, but here the gallant style becomes immoderately "elegant." These rough gems become delicate amethysts under his fingers, already projected into the fullness of a classicism yet to come, where jewels like these cannot stand up to the comparison with the Master's future masterpieces. Filology enthusiasts can instead turn to the Philips edition, with an Ingrid Haebler on the fortepiano capable of restoring the intimate nature of these pages, born within the thick domestic walls of the Mozart household.

Piano Concertos Nos. 1-4 in F major, B-flat major, D major, G major K 37, 39-41

Jeno Jandó (piano), Concentus Hungaricus, Ildikó Hegyi (dir.) – 1991 - Naxos – DDD
Murray Perahia (piano and dir.), English Chamber Orchestra – 1984 – CBS – DDD
Ingrid Haebler (fortepiano), Capella Academica Wien, Eduard Melkus (dir.) – 1991 – Philips Classics - DDD