performed by Jenő Jandó, Dénes Várjon, pianos, and the Concentus Hungaricus under Mátyás Antal, or as below, with Alfred Brendel, Imogen Cooper and the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields under Sir Neville Marriner (cover image by Nicolas Gras) I’ve always thought that so many … Continue reading Mozart Piano Concerto no. 10 in E-flat, K. 365
performed by Dame Mitsuko Uchida (cover image by Aaron Burden) We jump ahead a few years, around where we were last week, in 1777, although this work wasn’t published until 1782. The ninth sonata was composed in Augsburg and Mannheim … Continue reading Mozart Piano Sonata no. 9 in D, K. 311
performed by the Amadeus Quartet (cover image by Brooke Lark) So we, uh… jump back a few important years to the tenth quartet, written in 1773. The middle of this decade is clearly a time when the composer advances noticeably … Continue reading Mozart String Quartet no. 10 in C, K. 170
performed by Dame Mitsuko Uchida second and third movements One gets the feeling, listening to the Sonata in A minor, that Mozart had been stocking up on minor mode drama for some time when he wrote it. Its stormy music is a … Continue reading Mozart Piano Sonata no. 8 in Am, K. 310
performed by Fazıl Say, or below by Dame Mitsuko Uchida (cover image by Chris Barbalis) Mozart’s seventh piano sonata dates from 1777, a full two and a half years after the sixth. It was composed during a trip to Mannheim and … Continue reading Mozart Piano Sonata no. 7 in C, K. 309
performed by Dame Mitsuko Uchida and the English Chamber Orchestra under Sir Jeffrey Tate (cover image by Leonard Cotte) Mozart’s ninth piano concerto is actually his fifth original concerto for the piano (after the first four, which were more or … Continue reading Mozart Piano Concerto no. 9 in E-flat, K. 271, ‘Jenamy’
performed by the Amadeus Quartet, or below by the Festetics Quartet (cover image by Irina Blok) Mozart’s ninth string quartet, the second of the set of six called the ‘Viennese quartets,’ was composed in (August of) 1773. (Apparently, according to … Continue reading Mozart String Quartet no. 9 in A, K. 169
performed by the Amadeus Quartet, or below by the Festetics Quartet (cover image by Rachel Lynette French) Well, here we are again, continuing to slog away at Mozart’s enormous catalogue of works. Just kidding; it’s not a chore. It’s just … Continue reading Mozart String Quartet no. 8 in F, K. 168
performed by the Amadeus Quartet, or below by the Festetics Quartet (cover image by Brenda Godinez) The seventh quartet of W. A. Mozart is the last of the so-called ‘Milanese quartets,’ written while the young composer was in Italy, and showing … Continue reading Mozart String Quartet no. 7 in E flat, K. 160
performed by the Amadeus Quartet, or below by the Festetics Quartet (cover image by Rodion Kutsaev) Mozart’s sixth string quartet dates from 1773, again very early in his output, as evidenced by the low catalogue number. As part of the … Continue reading Mozart String Quartet no. 6 in B flat, K. 159
featuring Rainer Honeck Undetermined, Unfinished, but Undeniably Excellent This is our second visit to Taipei this weekend from a member of a European ensemble, after Stefan Dohr Friday. Back in the day, a few centuries ago, a soloist leading the … Continue reading NTSO’s Unfinished
featuring Stefan Dohr, horn; Jun Märkl, guest conductor I must have forgotten how much I don’t like change. I didn’t sit in my normal seat today at the concert hall. Due to some unfortunately obnoxious and inconsiderate patrons, I’d been trying … Continue reading NSO’s Fragrance of France
What is Mozart’s music if not naked, pure, exposed, unadulterated, magnificent beauty? A few weeks ago, we had the TSO’s season opener with accomplished pianist Kirill Gerstein making his first appearance in Taiwan, and it was a fine one. The NSO’s … Continue reading NSO’s 2017 Season Opener
I feel like we’ve been waiting for ages for this concert. And what a concert it was. Fazıl Say seems to be everywhere lately, literally and figuratively. He’s performing all over Europe, having recently played Beethoven’s Emperor concerto somewhere in Turkey, I … Continue reading TSO & Fazıl Say
performed by Mitsuko Uchida and the English Chamber Orchestra under Jeffrey Tate, or below by the English Chamber Orchestra with Murray Perahia The eighth concerto is the last of three from Mozart written in 1776, April of that year, and … Continue reading Mozart Piano Concerto No. 8 in C, K. 246
performed by Andras Schiff, Daniel Barenboim, and Georg Solti with the English Chamber Orchestra (I think) Talk about extravagant. Why three pianos? I thought the same thing, and I’ll tell you why, or rather Wikipedia will: The concerto is often … Continue reading Mozart Piano Concerto No. 7 in F for three pianos and orchestra, K. 242
performed by Mitsuko Uchida and the English Chamber Orchestra under Jeffrey Tate, or below from Murray Perahia and the English Chamber Orchestra Well, we did some sonatas, and now, as you should have expected, some concertos. (A quick note on the … Continue reading Mozart Piano Concerto no. 6 in B-flat, K. 238
performed by Christoph Eschenbach, or below by Sir András Schiff second and third movements We have now reached somewhat of a (very insignificant) milestone in our coverage of Mozart’s piano sonatas. For one, this puts us a third of the … Continue reading Mozart Piano Sonata No. 6 in D, K. 284 / 205b
performed by Christoph Eschenbach, or below by the also spectacular Mitsuko Uchida Here we are with Mozart’s fifth piano sonata, and per yesterday’s article, the two Köchel numbers reflect its original and incorrect ordering, later being given the lower number to reflect … Continue reading Mozart Piano Sonata No. 5 in G, K. 283 / 189h
performed by Christoph Eschenbach, or below by the also outstanding Mitsuko Uchida We haven’t seen Mozart in a while. Actually it hasn’t been that long. We featured him more than once or twice during the horn series and a few … Continue reading Mozart Piano Sonata No. 4 in E-flat, K. 282 /189g
performed by David Pyatt and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields under Neville Marriner, or below with Radek Baborák and the RTVE Symphony Orchestra under Jean Jacques Kantorow Here we are with another horn concerto from Mozart for his decades-older friend … Continue reading Mozart Horn Concerto no. 3 in E flat, K. 447
Fugue for Thought 