Norfolk Symphony Orchestra

Allegro: Adagio: Allegro assai

Mozart’s Piano Concerto K488 was completed in 1786 just after the first performance of his opera, Der Schauspieldirektor (The Impresario), at a time when the composer was very much occupied with completing Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro). The concerto had been commissioned by Prince Fürstenberg at Donaueschingen and is mentioned in a letter from the composer to the prince’s valet who had previously been Mozart’s hairdresser!

“The compositions which I keep for myself or for a small circle of music lovers and connoisseurs (who promise not to let them out of their hands) cannot possibly be known elsewhere as they are not known even in Vienna; and in this case the three concertos [K451, 459 and 488] which I have the honour of sending…and I must ask His Highness not to let them out of his hands…There are two clarinets in the A major concerto. Should His Highness not have clarinets at his court, a competent copyist might transpose the parts into suitable keys, in which case the first part should be played by a violin and the second by a viola.”

It is clear that Mozart associated the relatively new instrument of the clarinet with certain keys and music of a lyrical character – his clarinet concerto and clarinet quintet are also in A major.

The first movement begins conventionally, more simply than Mozart’s other concertos of the time, but departures from the norm begin with the middle section, which consists of new material. This creates a real sense of freshness when the main themes return for the final section.

The second movement, the only movement Mozart wrote in F sharp minor, is one of his most emotional and, like much of Mozart’s concerto writing, is fundamentally operatic. There seem to be two characters present – perhaps reminiscent of Susanna and the Countess from his opera, Figaro, for example. The brilliant use of dissonant (discordant) dying falls imbues the music with a weeping quality. In the final section, the vocal leap (a device used by singers in arias) is imitated over pizzicato (plucked) strings with incredibly moving effect. Some pianists believe this movement has come to us with the piano part as an incomplete sketch and so choose to embellish it.

The finale is a virtuosic rondo, a form where a main theme reappears a number of times alternating with new themes. After the seriousness and pathos of the first two movements, there is a carefree feel here and it is hard not to smile. Perhaps there are parallels with the rejoicing that rounds off a Mozart opera after the drama that has gone before.