Mozart - Piano Concerto 20 [Barenboim-Berliner Philharmoniker] Another disc played while walking on the way to Church, my favourite Mozart Piano Concerto, this is a Concerto where the Conductor plays the piano as well, i'm not too sure if this is good practice, how can you possibly conduct when your hands are on the piano keys?, even though i must admit i very much like Uchida conducting from the keyboard [see below], and it works very well with a small chamber unit, also on YouTube both Andras Schiff and Friedrich Gulda conduct this work from the keyboard too, so Barenboim is not alone.
Daniel Barenboim is an Argentinian conductor and Pianist, now 68 year old, he recorded this work in 1988, the booklet picture is pleasing enough, showing Barenboim conducting with blurred hands, i believe Barenboim recorded a cycle of the late Mozart Piano Concertos for Teldec [20-27], available in 4 discs individually, each one has a different colour theme, with this one in green.
I very much enjoyed the opening first movement of this work, it's a gorgeous dark opening [in my favourite D Minor], full of lovely rhythms and surges, first off the recording, i must admit it's a bit fierce, too shallow in the stereo, the individual instruments aren't separated enough left and right, also it can be quite shrill in the treble in fortissimos, there's not enough of a warm bloom on the recording, also i wonder if the work was properly rehearsed beforehand, there's a few ugly moments where the Orchestra blast away at full volume, when a more restrained approach would have been more pleasing, maybe the BP were on autopilot, but the gear changes between certain sections don't spring naturally from one to the next, having said all that, it's a testament to the genius of Mozart that his music is so compelling, even when the recording / performance is not ideal, don't get the idea i think this is a poor performance, in fact i enjoyed it so very much.
On to the actual music, and how i felt about it, the opening is sheer magic [0:00-2:24], like i said, in a dark minor key, and Mozart takes advantage of this in spades, the surges and waves at the beginning are incredible, there's almost an incantation intoned by the lower dark strings in the bass, like a repetitive mantra, and it's so wonderful to hear it as a delicious rhythm in the background, but it's not just about constant volume surges, but also waves of volume, you can hear at [0:16+] the agitation getting louder and more desperate, then there's the fortissimos [0:29+], thunderous blasts on the timpani, followed by angry strings, the dark / brooding / frantic way the strings surge away at [1:21+] has me on the edge of my seat as it were, this whole orchestral intro has got to be the very best part of the whole work, and the only thing that comes close to it is these opening rhythms with piano, the orchestra repeats the very opening [2:50+], and then magically the piano comes in with bass warblings [2:58+], that turn slowly into treble warblings, another great moment from the masters workbench, there's an oboe and bassoon melody that is punctuated by flute [4:12+ & 9:30+] that is such a breath of fresh air, there's also a lovely transition from bass piano musings, to the opening very opening rhythms again [7:38+], and it's these opening rhythms that appear all over the place in this movement, which tingle and delight every time, all in all an endless wealth of ideas and sheer enjoyment from Mozart.
Here's Mitsuko Uchida conducting and playing the first movement on YouTube.
