Piano Concerto in B flat major, K.595

When Mozart completed his Piano Concerto in B flat major in January 1791 he cannot have known that it would be his last. Nor can he have known when he gave the first performance two months later that it would be his last public appearance as a pianist. So, strictly speaking, there is little sense in looking for those “valedictory” qualities with which the work has long been associated. And yet there is a special, peculiarly contradictory atmosphere about it, an above-it-all kind of serenity overshadowed from time to time by what one can only think of as anxious premonitions.

Something of that atmosphere is clearly perceptible even before the entry of the soloist in the first movement. The orchestras introduces three themes – the even-tempered melody on the strings with a tiny fanfare figure attached by woodwind and horns, a polite question on violins with ever more emphatic answers on woodwind, and a charmingly playful idea on violins again. But then the strings veer of course, gently but disturbingly, into uneasy harmonies. The situation is corrected in time for the first solo entry and the piano’s extended re-introduction of the main themes. But before the piano gets as far as the question-and-answer second theme it too goes worryingly off course. The same fears haunt the central section of the movement where, in inspired exchanges between piano and solo woodwind or piano and strings, the first theme and its fanfare attachment pass through a variety of alien harmonic areas. The contradiction remains unsettled until a piano cadenza and an oddly abrupt orchestral coda to secure a reasssuring ending.

The Larghetto presents a similar kind of contradiction but with a different emphasis. In this case the serenity represented by the main theme heard on the piano in the opening bars and a second theme also introduced by the soloist, after an unsettled orchestral episode, is so well established that it cannot be seriously undermined. The awkward harmonic situation in which the piano finds itself at the end of the middle section is resolved by a procedure as simple as a rising series of trills leading into the recall of the main theme. The colouring of that theme when it is taken up by the piano with flute and first violins is one of the more remarkable aspects of Mozart’s scoring in this work.

There are no problems in the rondo finale. Based on a carefree tune the composer was about to use again in a song called, significantly enough, “Sehnsucht nach dem Frühling” (Longing for Spring), it is an essentially optimistic conception. As if the irrepressible quality of the rondo theme were not enough, in the first episode after an extended orchestral passage the soloist turns to a cheerful version of the serene opening melody of the Larghetto to make sure that the message is clearly understood. That is no more than a passing allusion, however. The composer somehow contrives to construct his rondo on little more than one main theme, its many variants and the delightful cadenzas preceding each of its reappearances.

When Mozart completed his Piano Concerto in B flat major in January 1791 he cannot have known that it would be his last. Nor can he have known when he gave the first performance two months later that it would be his last public appearance as a pianist. So, strictly speaking, there is little sense in looking for those “valedictory” qualities with which the work has long been associated. And yet there is a special, peculiarly contradictory atmosphere about it, an above-it-all kind of serenity overshadowed from time to time by what one can only think of as anxious premonitions.

Something of that atmosphere is clearly perceptible even before the entry of the soloist in the first movement. The orchestras introduces three themes – the even-tempered melody on the strings with a tiny fanfare figure attached by woodwind and horns, a polite question on violins with ever more emphatic answers on woodwind, and a charmingly playful idea on violins again. But then the strings veer off course, gently but disturbingly, into uneasy harmonies. The situation is corrected in time for the first solo entry and the piano’s extended re-introduction of the main themes. But before the piano gets as far as the question-and-answer second theme it too goes worryingly off course. The same fears haunt the central section of the movement in inspired exchanges between piano and solo woodwind or piano and strings. The contradiction remains unsettled until a piano cadenza and an oddly abrupt orchestral ending come to a reasssuring conclusion.

The Larghetto presents a similar kind of contradiction but with a different emphasis. In this case the serenity represented by the main theme heard on the piano in the opening bars and a second theme also introduced by the soloist, after an unsettled orchestral episode, is so well established that it cannot be seriously undermined. The awkward harmonic situation in which the piano finds itself at the end of the middle section is resolved by a procedure as simple as a rising series of trills leading into the recall of the main theme. The colouring of that theme when it is taken up by the piano with flute and first violins is one of the more remarkable aspects of Mozart’s scoring in this work.

There are no problems in the rondo finale. Based on a carefree tune the composer was about to use again in a song called, significantly enough, “Sehnsucht nach dem Frühling” (Longing for Spring), it is an essentially optimistic conception. As if the irrepressible quality of the rondo theme were not enough, in the first episode after an extended orchestral passage the soloist turns to a cheerful version of the serene opening melody of the Larghetto to make sure that the message is clearly understood. That is no more than a passing allusion, however. The composer somehow contrives to construct his rondo on little more than one main theme, its many variants and the delightful cadenzas preceding each of its reappearances.

When Mozart completed his Piano Concerto in B flat major in January 1791 he cannot have known that it would be his last. Nor can he have known when he gave the first performance two months later that it would be his last public appearance as a pianist. So there is little logic in looking for those “valedictory” qualities with which the work has long been associated - particularly since there is reason to believe that he actually started on it in 1788 along with the so-called “Coronation” Concerto in D major. And yet there is a special, peculiarly contradictory atmosphere about the Piano Concerto in B flat, an above-it-all kind of serenity overshadowed from time to time by what one can only think of as uneasy premonitions.

Something of that atmosphere is clearly perceptible even before the entry of the soloist in the first movement. The orchestras introduces three themes - the even-tempered melody on the strings with a tiny fanfare figure attached by woodwind and horns, a polite question on violins with ever more emphatic answers on woodwind, and a charmingly playful idea on violins again - all of them in the regulation B flat major. Just before the end of the exposition, however, the strings veer of course into gently expressed but disturbing minor harmonies. The situation is corrected in time for the first solo entry and the piano’s extended re-introduction of the main themes. But before the piano gets as far as the question-and-answer second theme it too goes off course with new material in worrying minor harmonies. This is no more than a hint of the fears that haunt the central section of the movement where, in inspired contrapuntal exchanges between piano and solo woodwind or piano and strings, the first theme and its fanfare attachment pass through a variety of alien harmonic areas. The contradiction is still not settled at the end of the recapitulation, where it takes a piano cadenza and an oddly abrupt orchestral coda to secure an unsensational ending in the required B flat major.

The Larghetto presents a similar kind of contradiction but with a different emphasis. In this case the serenity represented by the main theme heard on the piano in the opening bars and a second theme also introduced by the soloist, after an unsettled orchestral episode, is so well established that it cannot be seriously undermined. The awkward harmonic situation in which the piano finds itself at the end of the middle section is resolved by a procedure as simple as a rising series of trills leading into the reprise of the main theme. The colouring of that theme when it is taken up by the piano in unison with flute and first violins is one of the more remarkable aspects of Mozart’s scoring in this work.

There are no problems in the rondo finale. Based on a carefree tune the composer was about to use again in a song called, significantly enough, “Sehnsucht nach dem Frühlinge” (Longing for Spring), it is an essentially optimistic conception. As if the irrepressible quality of the rondo theme were not enough, in the first episode after an extended orchestral passage the soloist turns to a cheerful version of the serene opening melody of the Larghetto to make sure that the message is clearly understood. That is no more than a passing allusion, however, and the composer somehow contrives to construct his rondo on just the one main theme, its many variants and the delightful cadenzas preceding each of its reappearances in the B flat major key to which it rightfully belongs.

Gerald Larner©