Mozart Piano Concerto no 19, K459, mvt 1

[teresa_b]

Hi,

This is a live concert with Chamber Orchestra of Florida from two years ago.  I posted the 2nd and 3rd movements somewhere on this board some time ago.  I wasn't too happy with the miking, as it didn't pick up quite enough of the piano's dynamics--(but it did pick up the mistakes!  ). 

Teresa

[pianistimo]

the quality of sound of the chamber orchestra of florida is really nice!  also, you have some nice changes of texture to show off with the orchestra.  you have good control.  i'd like you sort of 'lose control' now, personally.  get more personality in the dynamics.  but, you know - you have a nice way about you and you never cover up the instrumentation.  i think that you could knock it up several dynamic ranges and still not cover them up.  mozart makes sure of this in the way he writes the instrumentation.  lift the lid and party.

you 'feel' mozart phrasing and have really nice endings, too.  i'd like to see just a bit more petulance.  this concerto was one of the mature viennese concerti of 1784 and there is dignity to it - but mozart also met baron von swieten around this time and some of his music has a lot of humor to it and character dialogue.  when i hear repeats done three times at the same dynamics it makes me want to hear some change to emphasis or draw attention away. 

 

[happyscottyboy]

Very good tune! Thanks teresa_b! Do you know where can I get the piano sheet? 

[teresa_b]

Thanks for the comments!     I agree with you, pianistimo, about letting loose more. 

At the risk of making excuses for myself  , I did vary the dynamics more than you can hear in the recording.  I had a nice Steinway, and it responded well--all my crescendos are quite obliterated by the recording, although the orchestra's sound is good. 

The guy who recorded it told me he picked up so much extraneous noise, he had to redo the whole thing digitally to get rid of it.   He also got rid of quite a bit of the richness of the piano's sound, unfortunately. 

Excuses aside, thanks for your excellent insights! 

Happy, I don't have the info on the score, perhaps someone else might..

Teresa

[pianistimo]

i was singing the opening tune and thinking about mozart's bird.  was he dead by then?  i can't rememeber.  all i remember is that he had a bird and often got inspiration from it.  now what was the bird's name?  i can't even remember that!  what is wrong with my mind.  i could also hear someone whistling that tune (and possibly think mozart was getting his musical juices going with some kind of need to do several things at once - ie write a pc, write an opera).

thanks for telling me about the recording problems.  i believe you!  it's crazy how recordings can distort good playing.  you are very talented. 

pbs had a man playing mozart yesterday- and for the life of me - i never saw him before.  i wanted to know his name - but couldn't watch the entire concert.  he wasn't murray perahia.  he was sort of middle aged, big (*hairy) hands, long fingers, sort of thinning on top, nice smile, no glasses that i remember.  i wish that i knew who the orchestra was and the conducter because that might have given me a clue.   anyways, his playing was really quite good, too.

[pianistimo]

the tutti at measure 24 and esp. at measure 34 with the start of the 1/2 note motives - of last movement  - was mentioned as a good example of 'stretto.'  and at measure 130 or 131 the tune in the piano appears 'nowhere else.'  this would indicate that some of the tunes in other places may have been used twice or heard before?  the musical humor back then was quite intruieging.  m 153 is the start of the sonata-rondo (hope my counting is correct on the measures).  it starts at the tutti that goes ba-ba bum / ba -ba daa.

i realize that mechanics hear the all different kinds of noises from customers explaining their car noises.  please just forget the letters and count measures if you need to.  m. 190 is a bridge.  then around m. 213 the B passage. m 164 is where a nice cadenza is played by 'bilson' on this K459 with the english chamber orchestra.  then, the A theme returns. the very next 'tutti' gives you C.  it is a full fugal exposition.  goes through the solo.  and the return of the A theme is (in my book on pg 174) apparrent again with varying p and f dynamics on the ba- ba -bam  ba - ba - daa.  except this time the motive is played with more changes.  the very next solo is B.  that goes for 3 1/4 pages and then the tutti.  as soon as you get to the next solo, tis A again.  the cadenza fits nicely in here.  the coda starts on the last page at the first tutti.  i have this movement marked as a good one for fortepiano.

[teresa_b]

pianistimo,

Thanks for your replies.  As for Mozart's bird, I don't know what its name was, but I recall that it was a starling, and Mozart made a note about its song like "Das war shoen!" (that was lovely).  Supposedly Mozart wrote the 3rd movement of the PC no. 17, K453 with the bird's song in mind. 

I saw on TV the opening night of "Mostly Mozart" at Lincoln Center--they did Mozart PC no 26 and the soloist was Garrick Ollsohn.  He played quite beautifully, and I suspect that was who you saw. 

Teresa

[piano121]

Realy lovely.  You play Mozart so well. Let me ask... did you have lots of slow pratice before get it up to speed? I´m plainy a Mozart sonata right now, and guess I got up to speed to fast, so I developed lots of mistakes. Now I´m trying to fixz it by slowing it down and playing realy deliberately. It hapened in the first mov. Now I´m working on 3rd mov, and still doing only slow pratice, kind of delaying the speeding up, to make sure every note will be as perfect as possible, but it´s realy dificult not getting anxious and start playing fast as hell. Hope to get your insights when I post it here in the future.
btw your sonata k 332 is very nice too.

[teresa_b]

Thanks, piano.    Yes, I did do a lot of slow practice.  You probably need to do that with your Mozart sonata, too.  (Do post it, I always love to listen to Mozart posts!) 

It's easy to play these Mozart pieces unevenly--it's quite a challenge to get smooth runs and arpeggios, etc.  I find that slow practice, making sure I don't have clunky notes or uneven passages is absolutely essential.  When I begin a practice session I always work at slower tempos before attempting to play it at tempo.  If I can't get it even and accurate at the slower tempo, I don't even try the fast tempo. 

That way you won't catch yourself repeating mistakes like you will when just practicing too fast.   

Good luck, and have fun!
Teresa

[pianistimo]

yes!  that's who it was!  garrick ollsohn.  thank you!

enjoy your posts, too. 

[piano121]

Right, I will sure post it as soon as I get my fast internet conection working.   Thanks!

[arensky]

This is excellent Mozart playing and the orchestra is wonderful  .

It's too bad about the little slips, the same errors in a 19th or 20th Century piece would not be as noticeable and matter so much. That said I think you have an excellent sense of Mozart phrasing and your whole attitude or "groove" is dead on for Mozart, you are a very clear and precise player without sounding mechanical.

I love the way you attack the development (a minor), you're striking back! You play very well, I attribute the clinkers to nerves. Hopefully there's a way you can get around that. You have to recognize that the nerves are inevitable, and just go and play anyway. This "surrendering to the enemy" helped me a lot with nerve management. I shouldn't have gone on like that, maybe it's not nerves at all...    but what else could it be? Except for the false notes your playing is wonderful. 

[teresa_b]

Thanks, Arensky.  Believe me, no one is more aware of the slips than I am--That's the problem with a live recording, when you listen to it you know exactly where a goof is coming, and it's terrible!  Luckily, in the actual performance they go by quickly. 

I perform rarely, so I was fighting a case of nerves.  The errors I made weren't even ones I tended to make in practice (Isn't that the way?  ) And yes, Mozart is totally unforgiving of the slightest error.  You just have to forgive yourself, know you did your best, and move on when it doesn't come out perfect!

Teresa

[piano121]

Hi, I´ve being hearing it again. still very impressed! The little mistakes realy doesn´t matter at all. I like because it´s very clean, and precise. You got a very good technique, could you tell me what did you do to develop it into this level? wich kind of exercises did you do at begining and wich ones you still do, to keep technique sharp. If you do exercises at all, I know there are schools wehre they just don´t do it. Anyway exercises like Brahms 51, are being very useful  technically wise to me. thanks!

[teresa_b]

Thanks, piano!  I have played many years, and I was taught from about age 10 to 17 with a lot of exercises.  I did:

All the scales and arpeggios in different ways 

Czerny school of velocity

Hanon, some Pischna (I don't recommend Pischna, it can do damage)

A lot of Bach--Inventions, some of the WTC  (I think Bach really helps cleanness of articulation)

I never studied the Brahms 51, but I'm sure they are excellent.

After I went to college I had a different teacher who didn't stress exercises, but more repertoire.  By then I had been pretty "exercised out" --but I already had the idea of clarity being of prime importance.   

I no longer play Hanon, Czerny, etc--but I do go back and play Bach, or a Mozart sonata movement to warm up, and I play scales and arpeggios especially in the keys of any pieces I'm working on. 

And as always, have fun!
Teresa