For some years now—happily for us—Ms. Uchida has been working her way through all twenty-something of the piano concertos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose 250th birthday is next January 27. In this first of her appearances here this season, we had two—one from his younger years and one from later in his career—as well as a Divertimento (minus piano) from his even younger years!
By the age of 20, Mozart had already produced a reasonable quantity of music including several symphonies, chamber pieces, operas and other concertos The piano concerto No. 8 in C major was catalogued as K. 246. This number would place this concerto about mid-way through his vast output. It was written for the Countess Lützow, while Mozart was still in Salzburg.
It is certainly not juvenile in nature, but neither is it equal to his mature production. It would have been played on a much less sophisticated instrument than the concert grand used by Ms. Uchida. Perhaps, too, the accompanying orchestra would have been smaller than the thirty or so musicians we heard in this graceful, bouyant performance. This time, the piano (minus lid entirely) was placed center stage, with the pianist’s back to the audience, and the musicians placed on either side.
For the Divertimento in B-flat major (K. 137), written when Mozart was about sixteen, the piano was pushed out of the way, and the string players were grouped in a semi-circle. Except for the cellos, they all stood, and as would have been the case in 1772, the first violinist was the leader. William Preucil, concertmaster of the orchestra, was elegance personified in this position, drawing silken sounds from his companions. Prolonged applause succeeded in luring the musicians back on stage for an additional bow.
After intermission, and the piano had again been brought to the front of the stage, and Ms. Uchida was joined by a slightly larger group of musicians, a convincing performance of the rather dramatic Concerto no. 24 in C minor, K. 491 ensued. Beethoven would have been sixteen when this concerto was composed in 1786, but had this particular one not been written, there could hardly have been a Beethoven. The final movement Allegretto especially foretells the changing future to come. The music and the instruments would undergo great changes in the next twenty or so years.
There was lovely playing in the winds, especially from the principal flute and oboe. The large audience was properly appreciative, and will no doubt look forward to May when Ms. Uchida returns for two more Mozart concertos: Nos. 16 & 25 (May 18-20). The week after that, she’ll perform the Schumann, with Music Director Franz Welser-Möst conducting.
For tickets or information about upcoming concerts(Holiday concerts begin on December 9) call (216) 231-1111, or visit the orchestra’s web-site: http://www.ClevelandOrchestra.com
From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz artswriter@adelphia.net (:divend:)