The music
Some thoughts; sample tracks to follow
Some thoughts; sample tracks to follow
MOZART MY WAY
no dysplaying (or any other phony-baloney bullshit) by any player
no replicating anyone else's performance
no string quartet psychosis
no fixating on the composer's phrasing, dynamics or speed markings (and I delete all annoying repetition)
no sharp edges
no other nonsense
what I want and how I want it are not negotiable
not too fast
not too loud
a piano with a distinctive voice and real character.
Rhythm? Bill Robinson's your man. And of course Rubinstein and Skrowaczewski.
#1, F major, K.37: So what if this is WAM's arrangement of someone else's work. But the first movement — not WAM's fault — is contemptible in its instability: the syncopation makes it unplayable; at any rate I find that it induces motion sickness. (K.466 works because it starts on the first beat and is stable.)
#2, Bb Major, K.39: Some improvement. This is a pleasant piece, congenial to play (Bb is a perfect key for it).
#3, D major, K.40: More indifference, though one can have some fun with the second movement.
#4, G major, K.41: The first movement is something out of a lunatic asylum. Maybe it's possible to play it attractively. I doubt it. We'll give it a go.
#5, D major, K.175: WAM's first original. There's real music in it from the outset. The first movement makes a conspicuous ass out of anyone who plays it excitedly. The usual challenge: to forget you have ever heard CBS or Hollywood Bowl Mozart and to play it sedately, elegantly, slowly and quietly. Can you imagine how that sounds?
#6, Bb major, K.238: Touching, elegant, a pleasure to play. Cf. K.595 and WAM's other Bb major piano concertos.
#8, C major, K.246: I've played this many times in public, increasingly enjoyably (for me at least). I always find something new and fresh in it. Easy to play badly. Highly effective with a string quartet. Ignore all the speed markings.
As this project evolves, I shall have something to say here about the other twenty concertos.