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Rating: In the Republic, as well as in the Phaedrus, Plato identifies the Beautiful in its highest and paradigmatic expression with the Good in itself, that is, with the Absolute.
The same path is followed by Plotinus, in the famous treatise on the Intelligible Beauty. For both philosophers, metaphysical pinnacles of ancient thought, indeed, of thought as such, the beauty that men can attain in this life, however kalon kai agathon, is destined to be an imitation or emanation of the Good in itself. A longing, therefore, never a definitive conquest.
Just as the contemplation of stars and geometric figures, music was an integral part of the Platonic paideia project. Well, if there's a recording that the philosopher of Athens would have included in all his courses, meant to elevate and balance the souls of the learners, it would have carried the name of "Mozart, Bohm, Pollini: Piano Concertos No. 23 and 19".
If perfection doesn't exist in music, this record represents the closest possible approximation. Let's clear up a misconception, a cliché fueled by mere ignorance (or by antipathy stemming from his "adherence" to Nazism), which considers Bohm a lesser conductor, pedantic, lacking vigor and charisma.
A conductor who tailored any score he encountered to his standard of professional mediocrity. Nothing could be further from the truth. Apart from his Strauss, which due to personal as well as discographic familiarity is unrivaled, it is in Mozart that the Austrian conductor manages to express a stylistic hallmark that cannot be questioned. And then, the mere fact of having imposed a work considered minor like "Così fan tutte" in the repertoire earns him a sincere round of applause.
In the mid-'70s, the old conductor, at the helm of the incredible Vienna Philharmonic, meets the young Pollini. The occasion for the rendezvous is the recording of two late piano concertos by Amadeus: No. 19 in F major and No. 23 in A major (K459 and K488 according to von Köchel's cataloging).
The first was composed by Mozart in 1784, a decidedly fruitful year, considering he produced no less than 6 of his 17 concertos. In particular, here is the final Allegro Assai, not only for the whirlwind coda in rondo form, a display of pianistic virtuosity, but especially for the use of counterpoint that creates a remarkable balance with the opera buffa style that characterizes the movement.
Even more notable, if possible, is K488. Mozart, now inclined to write for himself, for Music, rather than for the general public, produces what in my humble opinion is the unrivaled and unmatchable page of piano concertism.
I won't go into the details of the score here: the only thing to do in these cases is to create absolute silence, auditory and mental, and press the play button on the CD player. The central Adagio alone is worth all the music of the '900 (I'm not joking, I truly think so). Bohm and Pollini, for their part, approach these 55 minutes of total music in an astonishing manner: never was sound clearer or cleaner. No emphasis on the comic or burlesque aspects of the score, a temptation others did not resist. Rather, the darker and more problematic aspects emerge.
It's not always a joyful, liberating listen: it's sorrowful, profound. At times moving. It's that longing that makes us look towards Beauty without ever being able to fully possess it. But that keeps us from tiring of trying and trying again. The human condition.
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