Hoffmeister & Fiala Hoffmeister and Fiala were both composers and friends of Mozart. In particular, we remember Fiala (a pupil of J.B.Vanhal), who in 1778/1779 received his music position in Salzburg also thanks to Leopold Mozart. Albrecht Mayer Kammerakademie Potsdam Deutsche Grammophon |
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1. This year you are presenting a very intense series of International Concerts, featuring, among others, works for Horn by J. Haydn, W.A. Mozart, L. van Beethoven and C.M. von Weber, a relative of Mozart and of his wife Constanze and friend of Beethoven. You have just performed Mozart’s Concerto No. 4, then J. Haydn’s Horn Concerto No. 1 at Philharmonie Berlin and you will perform Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 4 next October-November and then Haydn again… Can you tell us about Mozart’s writing for Horn and that of J. Haydn seen in comparison? And what about the evolution of the treatment of Horn Solo part from Haydn and Mozart to Beethoven and Weber?
Something that is essential to understand the horn writing of Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven and Weber, is to first understand what kind of horn they were writing for.
Unlike the instrument that everyone will be familiar with today, the above mentioned composers were working with what we now call the natural horn; a horn without valves. This meant that the instrument could only play in one key at a time (something that was quite literally determined by the length of tubing that was attached to the horn) and furthermore, only play the tones of the harmonic series.
The harmonic series is a set of pitches that lie in nature, they are the natural vibrating tones of a specific length of any piece of tubing. This means this series is available on any hosepipe, scaffolding tube or toilet roll if vibrated correctly. Obviously, this posed problems for the instrument as it was not possible to play a chromatic scale and so some of the leading horn players of the day started to change the position of their hand inside the bell in order to quite literally change the length of the tube and thus be able to produce the notes that lay in between these pitches of the harmonic series. As you will see from the diagram below, the natural pitches of the harmonic series get closer together as they get higher and thus most of the melodic lines that Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven wrote tend to fall around the middle of the staff and upwards, mainly due to the availability of pitches. So, when looking at the horn writing of these magnificent composers, one also sees a remarkable knowledge and sensitivity to the physical obstacles the players face in regards to the manner in which they write.
The musical intentions of the composers can be seen very clearly when practised in this natural way as the stresses and directions of the phrases are clearly defined by the change in timbre that results from this hand stopping technique.
Between the different composers, you also see a lot of difference in the style they employ the horn. For example, Mozart and Weber make a lot of use of chromatic movement in the form of fast scalic passages whereas Haydn and Beethoven make much more use of the open series, writing many passages of broken chords and arpeggios.
Ben Goldscheider’s Videos:
Ben Goldscheider in Mozart Horn Concerto No. 4
Goldscheider plays Mozart’s Horn Concerto
Ben Goldscheider in Mozart Horn Quintet
Goldscheider plays Mozart’s Horn Quintet
Ben Goldscheider in J.S.Bach, Nun Komm’ der Heiden Heiland
2. On 2 February 2018 you have released your critically acclaimed Debut Recording with works for French Horn and Piano. Among the composers you have chosen, there are Schumann and von Krufft, the latter being considered, by a few scholars, as a forerunner of Schubert in chamber music. von Krufft was, in particular, a pupil, in composition, of Albrechtsberger (friend of J. and M. Haydn and of Mozart and composition teacher of Hummel, Beethoven and Reicha). What led you to choose the pieces for you CD Debut? You have in your repertoire also the octet by Schubert: what the difference between Schubert and Schumann?
For me, it was very important to choose a wide range of pieces that represented the whole development of the horn from this natural horn I spoke about previously to the modern horn of today.
In particular, I wanted to convey how as the instrument developed physically/mechanically, the music written for it developed too.
With the pieces I chose for the disc, we begin in the 21st Century with Jörg Widmann’s Air for Solo Horn, a piece written in 2005. This piece, to me, is especially interesting as it plays with the idea of the texture an instrumentalist can create. Normally, a solo instrument has the possibility to play monophonically by itself, homophonically and polyphonically with other instruments. With Widmann’s piece, the soloist plays the entire piece into the open lid of a grand piano having previously secured the sustaining pedal down with a pair of scissors. The result is that the horn player is alone but is able to sustain harmonies on the vibrating strings inside the piano lid.
Next is the Krufft Sonata which is a piece of salon music and is somewhat representative of a the vocal and virtuosic qualities of the natural horn. Whilst there is a lot of chromatic movement in this piece (especially if one compares it with the more famous Beethoven Horn Sonata), it is fairly obvious that the melodic and harmonic writing are simplified to an extent in order to accommodate the difficulties of the natural horn. As was also common at the time, there is little use of the lower register of the horn as here, the harmonic series are much further away from one another and thus writing anything of melodic interest is quite difficult.
Then there is a move to Schumann’s famous Adagio and Allegro, a piece that is considered to be the first major work written for the valved horn. It is very clear in Schumann’s writing that he wanted to explore these new possibilities with the instrument and the result is an extremely virtuosic work that unsurprisingly, has been taken and performed on the cello and violin amongst other instruments. I feel that this piece really encapsulates Schumann’s personality with it providing a lot of extreme contrasts in both harmony, tempi and register; especially in the Allegro Section. When comparing the style of Schumann and Schubert, I think the main difference is that of pushing the music of the time to extremes. If I talk specifically about the chamber music of Schumann and Schubert that includes the horn, Schubert is far more classical if you like with regard to his treatment of form and harmony in comparison with Schumann. There is a constant underlying feeling of restlessness in Schumann’s Adagio and Allegro, with an extremely fiery spirit that I think is not so typical of Schubert. Saying that, I also find a lot of similarities in both composer’s music. They both write incredibly intimately and personally, with perhaps the difference being that Schubert plays more by the rules and Schumann was more willing to lay his soul out on the page.
After Schumann, there is the York Bowen Horn Sonata and Volker David Kirchner’s Tre Poemi for Horn and Piano. These pieces, written just over forty years apart (1937 and 1980 respectively), show how music changed dramatically in the 20th Century. York Bowen was dubbed the English Rachmaninov and this can be seen through his treatment of incredibly dense and romantic harmony, long melodic lines and arguably a direct quotation from Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto in the second movement of the Horn Sonata. Kirchner’s Tre Poemi is another piece that uses the technique of the horn playing into the piano, albeit in a more extreme and aggressive way. These three short movements really explore the horn’s expressive qualities in a modern manner, with the third movement akin to a foggy morning in the mountains.
Lastly, there is Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Concert Etude for solo horn. This is one of my favourite pieces for horn that people during the BBC Young Musician Competition seemed particularly drawn towards. With Salonen being a horn player himself, there is a strong sense of practical knowledge behind the writing that makes it so idiomatic. He fully explores all the extended techniques of the modern horn to their very extremes and still manages to maintain a beautiful homage to his late horn teacher.
Without drawing too much on a cliché, I really think that studying and learning is the best possible thing people can do!
Specifically, at the Barenboim-Said Academy, we study music in a very broad sense.
Alongside our musical classes in Theory, Ear Training and Music History, we study the humanities. These, over a four-year period include; Philosophy, Literature, History, History of Art and Global Issues.
What I think this succeeds in doing is giving musicians a context to what they are doing and also teaches us how to think on a deeper level (at least from what I was used to before having had this education) and thus be able to approach music, over time perhaps, in a deeper way.
For example, if we are studying Beethoven in our Music History Classes, the rest of our classes will support this. So, in our Theory and Ear Training classes, we will look at examples of Beethoven’s works, analyse them and perform ear training exercises based on his style. In our Philosophy classes, we will be studying the work of Hegel and seeing how Beethoven’s tremendous musical innovation was in part influenced by the incredible innovation occurring in German philosophy at that time. In a history class, we might study the French Revolution and see how the attitudes since 1789 appealed to his imagination and frustration. At the end of all this, you have a much clearer picture of the life and times of the great composers that we try and make a living from performing.
My advice for other young musicians is that this type of knowledge and understanding is an incredibly interesting aspect to musical education that is somewhat neglected. Personally, I feel it enriches not only your musical but intellectual life and simply gives you another dimension to your studies.
On a more practical note towards younger horn players, PRACTISE.
I don’t believe anybody has made a successful career in music without, at some point in their lives, going through a very intense period of studying and experimenting with their instruments. Finally, and something that is often looked over (specifically by myself) is to enjoy what you are doing and know that in essence, you have to make beautiful music.
4. You are the Winner of the BBC Young Musician Brass Category 2016 and this Summer 2018 you’ll make also your BBC Proms debut on 15 July and then on 14 August. What are your memories and considerations about your experience at the BBC Young Musician 2016? And what your expectations about your BBC Proms debut, in particular, since you’ll play horn in a very peculiar repertoire from Tchaikovsky to Scriabin to modern contemporary composers: your approach to the horn will be so different from that used for Mozart, Haydn and the Classical and Romantic repertoire?
For me, BBC Young Musician was one of the most exciting chapters of my life. The competition itself is part and parcel of being a young musician in the UK and so during the entire process (which takes 9 months), I just felt incredibly lucky to be part of it. I learnt an extraordinary amount about myself and was able to gain invaluable experience of playing under rather huge pressure at a rather young age. It meant so much to me that still, two years on, I can remember exactly what I was wearing, what I ate and the conversations I had on the days of each round leading up from the very first regional audition to the Grand Final. The exposure and platform it gave have been the groundwork for my career and I am incredibly grateful for everything the competition has done, and is still doing for me.
This summer, I will make my debut as a soloist at the BBC Proms, commissioning a new work by David Bruce for four solo instruments and orchestra. Often, I am asked what my dream concert would be and I have to say, the answer was always that; to commission a new piece at the BBC Proms. To be doing this at 20 years old is quite overwhelming and I am so grateful to the team at the BBC for giving me this opportunity. There are really no words to describe how much I’m looking forward to it!
Then, later on in August, I will play with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim at the Proms. This concert falls right into the middle of our summer tour and I am really looking forward to taking a bit of my life in Germany and sharing this with the wonderful audience at the Proms.
The approach to all these different programmes and scenarios does change slightly the way in which I approach the horn but not as much as you would think. Playing as a soloist for a classical or early romantic work requires an incredibly flexible, free and open condition of the lips whereas to play a Bruckner symphony in the orchestra requires a more physically strong and durable structure.
Because of the variety that a musician these days encounter, I try as much as possible to make sure that these styles are at my disposal on a daily basis and thus I have come up with a daily work-out which covers everything I might need to play!
5. Your favourite work by Mozart and your favourite work by J. Haydn.
As every musician will tell you, this is an extremely difficult question to answer!
They will also tell you that this answer probably changes on a day to day basis and so as I’m writing this,… my favourite piece by Mozart is his 40th Symphony in G minor.
I think it’s just an incredibly beautiful piece of music that encompasses so many emotions and yet somehow manages to remain fundamentally neutral.
If you listen to this piece when you’re in a good mood, you will describe it as an uplifting, happy piece.
Conversely, if you listen to this piece when you are sad, you will say that is a piece full of sorrow and pain.
This neutrality of music and how we react as a listener and interpret as a performer to it is something I am very interested in and I think this symphony is a good example of how to study this.
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With Haydn, however, I am much more loyal to my own instrument and will say that his first Horn concerto in D major is my favourite piece. Especially the slow movement!
It has a fantastic energy that I think is quite rare to most horn music and I have such fun playing it.
6. Do you have in mind the name of some neglected composer of the 18th century you’d like to see re-evaluated?
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach!
Although biologically impossible, I think if his father hadn’t been around he would be held in a significantly higher regard in the history of music and performed MUCH more!
His music is extremely interesting and, in places, so quirky that you really cannot believe he is writing pre-Mozart/Beethoven.
In my opinion, his music foresaw the Sturm und Drang (Storm and drive/stress) movement that developed towards the end of his life in the 1760’s.
Often so turbulent and expressive, he really epitomises the transition between the Baroque and Classical period by experimenting heavily with the idea of newness in his music.
7. Name a neglected piece of music of the 18th century you’d like to see performed in concert with more frequency.
The Sextet for two Horns and String Quartet, Op. 81b by Ludwig van Beethoven.
Written in 1795, this is a fantastic piece for two horns and string quartet that I have never played or heard in a concert so it definitely gets my vote.
Much like the Mozart Horn Quintet for Horn and strings, this piece is almost concerto like in terms of its treatment of the two solo horns and is a wonderful gem of a piece that should certainly be in the repertoire of more horn players.
The first movement is rather strong in its character and somewhat reminiscent of Beethoven’s relentless energy we see in the symphonies yet somehow stays rather sad and sombre at the same time.
The second movement is a slow lullaby with one of my favourite moments of dissonance in the whole of music!
The last movement is similar to the first, albeit takes on more of a hunting and heroic style than a sombre one.
8. Have you read a particular book on Mozart Era you consider important for the comprehension of the music of this period?
Unfortunately I haven’t come across a book that has given me significant insight to be able to write about it at length, although I can highly recommend visiting Vienna and seeing where the First Viennese school worked and lived as this somehow gives you an insight to the character of their personalities and lives.
9. Name a movie or a documentary that can improve the comprehension of the music of this period.
I guess that answer about books stands also for the movies…
10. Do you think there’s a special place to be visited that proved crucial to the evolution of the 18th century music?
I think Leipzig is a fascinating place to visit in terms of music!
It has a quite remarkable crop of composers that stretches more into the 19th Century but Bach, Richard Wagner, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Robert Schumann and Clara Wieck all lived there for a period of time and one can also see the strong influence of Edward Grieg and Franz Liszt, two musicians who spent a lot of time there in their careers.
There is also the wonderful Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra which was founded in 1743!
I personally cannot think of another city which can boast such a rich heritage and it is a city that is rightly rather proud of this!
In a day, one can visit the St Thomas Church where Bach was working, visit the homes of Grieg and Mendelssohn and learn about all the composers lives at the museum.
With Bach arguably setting the precedent in terms of music composition, one could quite easily say that Leipzig was crucial in nurturing important aspects of a long lasting musical tradition.
Thank you very much for having taken the time to answer our questions!
Thank you!
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Switch off the lights, light some candles and the laser light which will perform your music… Choose your most comfortable and favourite sofa, help yourself to some true 18th century punch (each house had its own recipe for their guests at their music soirées) and enjoy your perfect 18th century soirée… with the music by Mozart, his friend and mentor J.C. Bach, his beloved rival M. Clementi and two highly skilled and sensitive performers leading us through this charming journey on very beautiful historical instruments: Julian Perkins and Emma Abbate.
 | Julian Perkins & Emma Abbate CD1: Mozart: Piano Duets Vol. 1 (Resonus Classics) CD2: Mozart: Piano Duets Vol. 2 (Resonus Classics) Julian Perkins (Official Site) |
CONTENTS
1. All the charm of brilliant and beautiful cantabiles…
2. Mozart and a special demanding repertoire for the 18th
century soirées spent with his friends…
3. Mozart: Piano Duets Vol. 1.
Dedicated to Nannerl and Franziska von Jacquin.
4. Mozart: Piano Duets Vol. 2.
A masterpiece, again Nannerl and possibly Pichler’s (?)
fragments with a World Premiere Recording.
5. J.C. Bach – M. Clementi: A wise and correct habit.
6. Mozart & Clementi again… a curiosity from Spring 1786.
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1. All the charm of brilliant and beautiful cantabiles…
As you can see from the special story behind these works for piano 4-hands (and especially those by Mozart), all the pieces (apart from K19d and, in part, K381) can be considered, in general, difficult or rather demanding pieces, even though at different levels, with K381 (for Mozart) probably an easier work and K521 and K497 the most difficult ones, also in consideration of the very careful interpretation needed here.
The first impression you’ll have by listening to this marvellous series of CD Albums by Julian Perkins and Emma Abbate is the absolute charming beauty of their cantabiles and the authentic brilliant and lively Mozartian verve and spirit which breathes from every note. Their singing and almost operatic style of playing these works 4-hands is finely endowed with a joyous sprezzatura, which this kind of music always always requires, to be correctly performed.
Moreover you will really enjoy the fine and delicious variations created by the two pianists at any ritornello. An art this even more appreciated, since, even though the two performers correctly never go too far, it gives a fine and vivid hint of what probably was the actual lively and a bit free performance practice, during the music gatherings of Mozart and his friends.
The interpretation of these pieces reaches a splendid fusion of intents, which, thanks also to the accurate choice of proper historical instruments rich in a marvellously warm sound (especially those used for Mozart’s piano duets), creates a much enjoyable 18th century atmosphere and is well co-ordinated between the two players.
The accurate work in rendering a beautiful, brilliant and refined fraseggio makes a few tracks of these CDs particularly remarkable for their interpretation. You’ll certainly enjoy, in particular, the sonatas K381, K521, J.C. Bach’s and Clementi’s Sonatas and the magnificent monumental K497, with its 1st movement cantabiles and dynamics, the delicious fraseggio of its 3rd movement and, above all, both the Adagio and the Andante rendered with such a magical timbre and a series of soft nuances of expression which well paints the subtle musical texture of this piece… and all this under the masterly hands of the duo Perkins-Abbate, a duo that demonstrates too well how the music by Mozart, Clementi and J.C. Bach must really sing.
Julian Perkins and Emma Abbate perfectly master all the technical and mechanical characteristics of the historical pianos used for these recordings, so that they are capable of achieving those peculiar suggestive tones and that peculiar warmth and softness and delicacy of sound… id est all those interpretative subtleties which are especially demanded by the very nature of the pieces themselves, and, in particular, those Mozart’s passages in K497 piano and pianissimo will resound in all their fascinating velvety beauty.
The Mozartian interpretation given by the duo Perkins-Abbate can well be seen within that glorious tradition of a few great Mozart interpreters such as Edwin Fischer and Alicia de Larrocha.
This beautiful Series of CD Albums will make you appreciate, one more time, some beautiful masterpieces by Mozart, J.C. Bach and Clementi, from their very special convivial or Geselligkeit repertoire, and probably, thanks to the two brilliant interpreters and their fine choices… in the most authentic soirée atmosphere possible.
2. Mozart and a special demanding repertoire for the 18th century soirées spent with his friends…
The very interesting choice made by Julian Perkins and Emma Abbate offers the possibility of exploring a special repertoire for piano (and a particularly difficult one, since it was usually thought, in origin, for an elite category of extra-skilled interpreters) and to cast some light, through the music itself and Perkins-Abbate’s interpretation, onto the tradition of social music gatherings in the 18th century and on the forms of musical practice and performance.
Quartets, quintets, trios, duos, duets, etc. i.e. chamber music in general played an important role in the social habits of the 18th century society. Music soirées (either soirées organized at some very notable stylish salon or simple gatherings of friends for playing some music among dinners, good food, spicy drinks, some dancing, much talking, music listening and music playing: according to the Irish tenor Michael Kelly, one of the first performers of Le Nozze di Figaro in 1786, a good punch, at these soirées, was the favourite drink of Mozart himself: «He was remarkably fond of punch»; and from other accounts we know also that Mozart adored dancing) were a fundamental part of the social life in the second half of the 18th century and the public demand for new music (to be consumed at the soirées with one’s friends, both amateur players and professional musicians doesn’t matter) was really abundant and important.
A few composers even managed to transform all this into a profitable business, like Kozeluch and his own publishing firm, the Musikalisches Magazin, founded in 1785.
Also Mozart had his part, and a considerable one, in this peculiar context of social habits. Apart from his quartets, the piano sonatas, the violin and piano sonatas, etc. production, he and his sister, when travelling across Europe (literally as child prodigies of Nature), managed to make a particular form of work for keyboard rather popular: the pieces for keyboard 4-hands, an interesting form of performance, which could well highlight the incredible capabilities of the two performers.
In June 1784 an English author, whose identity is still unknown, could assert about the origin of this genre of composition in England:
«The first instance of two persons performing on one instrument in this kingdom was exhibited in the year 1765 by little Mozart and his sister».
After this first period of marvellous public performances by the Wunderkind himself, this kind of repertoire remained a sort of firm label for Mozart and his sister throughout the 1770s and those people who wanted to meet Mozart, his sister and his father personally, and privately, could reach the house of the Mozarts at Salzburg and have the possibility of listening to Mozart and his sister playing piano duets.
Even the famous large family portrait by Johann Nepomuk della Croce, painted in 1780-1781, has Mozart and his sister playing piano duets together at the keyboard…
When Mozart left Salzburg to reach Vienna, many things changed drastically in the life of Mozart.
Nonetheless, as far as we know, the Viennese social gatherings gave the occasion to Wolfgang to approach the genre of the works for keyboard 4-hands (and that for 2 pianos) on a completely new basis: no more his sister at his side, but the composer, singer and pianist Marianne von Martinez and then Caroline Pichler and Franziska von Jacquin, the sister of his close friends, the von Jacquins, who usually organized Geselligkeit evenings (i.e. conviviality evenings) on Wednesday evenings are among the names we know associated to the piano 4-hands production and performance by Mozart. So these women, who, after 1781, usually played piano 4-hands works with Mozart in well known social contexts, were skilled performers belonging to notable families who regularly promoted music soirées in Vienna.
As for other music genres cultivated by Mozart, the great master never thought to simplify his art, his music to meet the trivial necessities of common music amateur players (as other composers of his era did) and even when he writes music for the principianti his art remains sublime and untouched in its masterly construction.
That’s the reason, in any case, why Mozart’s music was not a particular best seller in score in that period, being de facto too sophisticated or even difficult for the average amateur player of the music soirées… (see, just an example among others, the problems with his Dissonance Quartet) and why Kozeluch became richer than Mozart in this peculiar branch of music mass production of the 18th century.
Nonetheless, as far as we know from various accounts on Mozart at the soirées (see Michael Kelly, Da Ponte, Caroline Pichler and others), when there was a soirée and Mozart was there with his friends, Mozart’s music was often in the programme of the music soirée (written music or improvised one were both common) and often with highly distinguished listeners (i.e. the great Neapolitan composer Paisiello) and highly distinguished performers (i.e. Haydn, Maximilian Stadler, Dittersdorf, Vanhal and others).
And we have also a curious anecdote on Mozart, playing piano duets during these conviviality evenings: at Caroline Pichler’s own salon, the highly talented lady pianist Pichler was playing some music at piano and suddenly Mozart sat at her side and stopped her playing and then started improvising a piano duet together (it seems he was reworking some music from his Figaro) and when they completed their improvisational duet piano performance, Mozart «began leaping and somersaulting about the room while meowing like a cat». Was Mozart happy with Pichler’s ability in improvisation 4-hands?… Being a piano duet improvisation a difficult art of its own not for the average common amateur music performer, such episode highlights the great talent of Caroline Pichler as pianist, that very Pichler who was considered «one of Vienna’s foremost lady pianists with a masterly touch, strong in execution, and undaunted by the greatest difficulties».
Those, who well know the complicated story behind most of Mozart’s music fragments apparently left unfinished, will discover, in this anecdote, the great master’s habit of jotting down some ideas derived from his own soirées musical improvisations of the kind described by Caroline Pichler. And therefore the famous fragments of Mozart’s piano 4-hands works still surviving belong to this very peculiar category of compositions: works, in reality, fully performed as improvisation during some music gathering, then written down on some music paper by Mozart as a pro memoria of some good ideas and then left without completion, even for years: the Clarinet Concerto K622 is a great example of this way of working.
But let’s see, in details, the Contents of the two CD Albums by Julian Perkins and Emma Abbate…
3. Mozart: Piano Duets Vol. 1. Dedicated to Nannerl and Franziska von Jacquin.
With their particular choice, Julian Perkins and Emma Abbate wanted to dedicate the first volume of the piano duets to two important figures in Mozart’s life: his sister and companion of professional concerts tours Nannerl Mozart and to Franziska von Jacquin (or in Mozartianese own language Sigra. Dinimininimi), that talented pianist pupil of Mozart (and sister of one of his closest friends Gottfried von Jacquin, in Mozartianese language HinkitiHonky), who often became the official and/or unofficial dedicatee of various difficult piano masterpieces by Mozart during his stay in Vienna in the 1780s.
In fact, Mozart’s pieces presented by the duo Perkins-Abbate in this first volume belong exactly to those two different periods of Mozart’s piano 4-hands music production: the Salzburg 1770s years with his sister Nannerl kept as a reference performer and the Vienna 1780s years mainly with his friend and pupil Franziska von Jacquin as reference performer…
… and, under a certain point of view, the story of piano 4-hands music production is really also the story of a few of the most famous lady pianists in history, from Nannerl Mozart to Caroline Pichler.
a. Nannerl (Salzburg) and Marianne von Martinez (Vienna)
The two duet sonatas K381 and K358 were written in 1772 and in 1773/1774 respectively. They were intended to be performed with Nannerl at Salzburg during various occasions, and, in particular, when someone wanted to meet the Mozarts in person at their home. The manuscripts of the two works remained in possession of Nannerl after his brother’s leaving for Vienna in 1781. However, Mozart kept copies of these works as a fundamental vademecum for his teaching activity and, when in Mannheim (1777-1778), he used these particular duets to be played only with the best students there. When in Vienna, Mozart managed to have these two pieces published by Artaria in 1783 among his first printed works and this is sufficient to understand the importance of such compositions for Mozart. Probably these works were among those performed 4-hands with Marianne von Martinez at her own very famous Viennese salon.
b. Franziska von Jacquin (Vienna)
As we have seen previously, Mozart’s relationship with important and skilled Viennese lady pianists led to piano duets performances during the so called conviviality evenings. Mozart’s connection to the family von Jacquin was profound and long lasting and his talented pupil Franziska became the ideal skilled performer of a few works by him. In particular, the Sonata 4-hands K521 (29 May 1787) must have had Franziska as a reference performer, since we still have Mozart’s own covering letter for this rather demanding composition:
«Give this sonata to your sister [i.e. Franziska] with my compliments and tell her to start working on it at once as it is rather difficult».
The suggestion of start working must imply that Mozart wanted to play this work with Franziska at some soirée…
However, the final published version appeared in 1788 as dedicated to another pupil of Mozart, Babette de Natorp, and to her sister Nanette. And again Mozart’s choice makes us understand that Mozart saw this kind of difficult works for piano 4-hands as a sort of official recognition of the particular technical command of the piano technique attained by his pupils: is it a reminiscence of his own musical path as a Wunderkind?
4. Mozart: Piano Duets Vol. 2. A masterpiece, again Nannerl and possibly Pichler’s (?) fragments with a World Premiere Recording.
With their second volume of piano duets, Julian Perkins and Emma Abbate decided to shift their interest onto the masterpiece of this collection of piano works 4-hands (K497) and onto a very interesting series of fragments (K357 in a new modern completion in a world premiere recording) and onto a fundamental doubtful work (the K19d), the two latter ones both important compositions to comprehend the technique, method of work and the most intimate world of sounds of the great master.
a. Sonata 4-hands K497 an extra-demanding masterpiece
Both K521 and K497 belong to a professionally marvellous period for Mozart: that extremely prolific series of two years between Le Nozze di Figaro (1786) and Don Giovanni (1787). This K497 4-hands is universally recognized as one of the highest point of Mozart’s art, along with the most famous series of his Haydn Quartets and has been always scholarly praised for his excellent musical texture by such scholars as Alfred Einstein and Donald Francis Tovey. What is demanding here is not only the musical piece itself, but its very interpretation and once more we realize how Mozart considered such works for piano 4-hands not a mere trivial occasion of playing music with his friends, but rather, and without any compromise, a sort of artistic summa of piano technique. And that’s why, as Alfred Eistein pointed out, we find here the elements typical of Mozart’s orchestral works and of piano concertos with even pre-Beethovenian nuances and atmospheres.
b. Sonata K19d a fundamental influential work
The Sonata K19d belongs to the London period (1765) and probably it was the piece used by Nannerl and little Wolfgang during their astonishing series of concerts as natural music prodigies. This Sonata is at the very centre of a scholarly dispute, since its paternity is not certain (we are not sure that child prodigy Mozart wrote this work in 1760s) and hence it has been recently moved among the works of doubtful authenticity. Nonetheless this very Sonata must have had a great influence on Mozart, because a clear and distinct echo of its brilliant finale movement Rondeau: Allegretto can be heard in the finale of the Gran Partita K361 (1781) and both in the finale of the piano sonatas per principianti K545 and K547a (both 1788). The fact that Mozart re-worked the finale of K19d (a piece which belonged to his youth and to the London year 1765) for his famous piano sonata per principianti must be surely somehow meaningful.
c. World Premiere Recording K357 completed by Robert D. Levin
The two music fragments re-united and completed in the 19th century as K357 belong to that amazing huge corpus of music fragments and snippets left by Mozart. The art of completing such fragments left by Mozart unfinished (at least on paper, since probably he performed them in a full form during his concerts… or during the conviviality soirées, thanks to his incredible improvisational talent) has an old and long tradition which dates back to Mozart’s friends such as Maximilian Stadler and Süssmayr and to his wife Constanze.
The origin of these fragments can be easily found in that aforementioned anecdote by the excellent pianist Caroline Pichler on her duet with Mozart and in Mozart’s habit of improvising even works for piano 4-hands during the conviviality evenings…
The 19th century completion left by Andrè (1853) is characterized by a few philological problems. So, being Mozart’s original fragments (which belong to two different periods, 1787 and 1791) sufficiently rather long, the modern accurate work carried on by Levin restores the fragments of Mozart in a new completed form, this time respectful of the original compass of Mozart-era pianos and of Mozart’s own technique of composition.
Perkins and Abbate present here the world premiere recording of this completion by Levin and we hope that this completion will find its way towards popularity among international pianists.
5. J.C. Bach – M. Clementi: A wise and correct habit.
The inclusion of piano 4-hands works by J.C. Bach and by M. Clementi is a very wise choice by Julian Perkins and Emma Abbate.
And it must be said that fortunately it is an increasingly wise and correct habit from the modern generation of 18th century music performers, i.e. to have, for example, Kraus’s symphonies in the same CD Album with Haydn’s symphonies etc.
If in the era of Mozart there were many Kleinmeister of scarce quality, on the contrary, there were many great masters of that era, whose work for various and even bizarre reasons did not receive the right attention it deserved. Unfortunately what many people usually fail to correctly comprehend is that such composers like J.C. Bach, Vanhal, Dittersdorf, etc. developed their own personal Classical Era style already in the 1760s, when Mozart was only 5 years old and that child prodigy Mozart grew up studying and practicing in the style of these composers… even though the bad long habit of considering the music of the 18th century as a whole undifferentiated organism might lead to erroneously think the contrary!
So, thanks to the duo Perkins-Abbate, the two works by J.C. Bach and M. Clementi will be a nice discovery in this set of CD Albums and a motive of true enjoyment, being their sonatas 4-hands really delightful!
Even though written only in 1778 the Sonata in A major by J.C. Bach features many characteristics of his own style (in particular its Allegretto), that finely singing style that the young child prodigy Mozart, in 1765, had the possibility of studying with the composer in person in London and then, during the following years, through J.C. Bach’s scores. After 1765, J.C. Bach and Mozart remained always on friendly terms and in 1770 Mozart even officially became the pupil of the same famous teacher as J.C. Bach, that Padre Martini of Bologna, Italy (an authentic father of many great music composers), whose golden rule in composition was that «the beauty in music reveals itself naturally as a natural expression of masterly constructed parts», as Jommelli, another famous pupil of Padre Martini, put it more or less.
6. Mozart & Clementi again… a curiosity from Spring 1786.
The story of Mozart borrowing from Clementi’s piano works to create his famous overture for The Magic Flute in 1791 is well known and it is also well known how, according to Clementi, all this originated from Mozart’s reminiscences of their famous duel occurred ten years earlier in Vienna in 1781.
Now this may seem pure impression and fortuitous coincidence but Clementi’s Sonata Op. 14 No. 3 features in his Rondo: Allegro a well marked bar, which works as the conclusive seal of the whole piece and which curiously sounds like the extra-famous rhythmic motive of the Farfallone Amoroso from Le Nozze di Figaro.
The similarity here must be purely coincidental… A direct influence here may be probably very difficult and, above all, should be strictly historically and properly documented, but since this Sonata 4-hands by Clementi was first published in March 1786 and Mozart’s Figaro premiered in May 1786… well… what a striking coincidence!
Moreover this work by Clementi (performed on an ancient original square piano by Clementi & Co. London) is certainly among his best and liveliest products ever and the Adagio and the Rondo: Allegro are really two magnificent and very enjoyable masterpieces in their own right!
MozartCircle
S. & L.M. Jennarelli
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