Octo_Russ

Mozart - Piano Concerto 20 [Barenboim-English Chamber Orchestra] 

Here's young Mr Barenboim [24 years old], playing Mozart's Piano Concerto 20, just 2 months ago i played another disc of older Mr Barenboim playing the same work [46 years old], [30th January 2011], and it's nice to compare the two, this recording was made in 1967, shows its age somewhat, there's a small degree of hiss in the sound, also there is a lack of bloom and warmth, but Mozart is so compelling in this work, that quickly i don't notice the limitations of the recording.

Daniel Barenboim is Argentinian, born in 1942 and now 68 years old, this recording was made in 1967, i like the front booklet cover, a close up shot of Barenboim at work with his piano, with the logo and the lettering in the dark corners.

The first movement is just a powerhouse of agitated rhythms, written in the key of D Minor, i can certainly hear Mozart's Requiem here [also written in D Minor], i don't know if Mozart wrote it with some sort of idea of death in mind, but also Schubert's String Quartet 14 'Death and the Maiden' is written in D Minor too, and Faure's Requiem too, i'm sure you get the picture!, and there is this dark and mysteriousness to the opening string gestures, the bass string rhythms are great, with the violins carrying the tune, and slowly becoming more frantic [0:00-0:29], and it's the explosion afterward [0:51-0:59] that really excite, and the forte culmination before the piano comes in [1:22-2:05], like the dreaded plague that's been expected, the piano basically plays a solo when it first comes in, but it's when those initial rhythms come back in again [2:52], and the piano joins in with its bass warblings [2:59], that the stage is set perfectly, Mozart really knows how to build a piece in layers of musical satisfaction, there's a brief happier section with both the oboe and bassoon making a solo / duet entries [4:14-4:28], the piano makes some delicious bass notes [7:34-7:42], that jump starts the mysterious rhythms again, and bring about many themes in rondo fashion, it's like the second half of the movement mirrors the first, just before the cadenza, the brass bray out forte [10:43], along with the strings in loud treble daggers, Barenboim uses a cadenza by Edwin Fischer, which is different, but fits in nicely, although fairly long, the ending is actually quite subdued, with bassoon and lower strings having a nice coda feel [14:14-14:29], the whole movements dark mystery and rhythms enchant me.

Here's Mitsuko Uchida playing and conducting the first movement of this Concerto on YouTube, one of my favourite YouTube videos, a lovely small chamber music group.