MOZART COMPLETE EDITION Liner notes - brilliantclassics.com

1 95010 MOZART COMPLETE EDITION 1 MOZART COMPLETE EDITION Liner notes , sung texts ( ), full tracklist ( ) Liner notes Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART was born in Salzburg on 27 January 1756. His father Leopold was a violinist, composer and voracious intellectual, but there was musical ancestry on his mother s side also, her father having sung bass at Salzburg s St Peter s Abbey and taught singing at its school. Leopold is often criticised for his overbearing manner towards his son, but he deserves credit for reducing his own ambitions as soon as he recognised MOZART s phenomenal gifts. Between 1762 and 1769 he embarked upon a succession of European tours, intending to showcase his son s talents (on violin and keyboard) and those of Wolfgang s older sister Nannerl (keyboard and singing). This period of extensive travel, in addition to subsequent tours during the 1770s, provided MOZART with an unorthodox but invaluable musical education, as he was able to hear works by Johann Christian Bach and other established composers of the day, thus acquiring the basis for the development of his own personal style.

2 Like his father, MOZART was employed by Archbishop Colloredo of Salzburg, but their stormy relationship ended in 1781, when the 25 year old composer decided to escape the parochial attitudes in Salzburg and pursue a freelance career in Vienna. The following year, the year of his marriage to Constanze Weber, he became familiar with the sacred music of Bach and Handel. MOZART s initial success in Vienna was largely due to his appearances as composer/soloist in a succession of new piano concertos, although this phenomenally industrious and versatile composer wrote a vast number of other major works during 1781 91 including string quartets and quintets, the quintet for piano and wind, symphonies and several operas. The renowned fickleness of the Viennese audiences was underlined when his opera The Marriage of Figaro met with only moderate success in 1786.

3 By contrast, its reception in Prague was triumphant ( everyone leaping about in sheer delight , as the composer put it), leading directly to the commission of Don Giovanni. No wonder MOZART was especially fond of the Prague audiences. Eventually, at the end of 1787 and after many years of hoping for official employment, MOZART was appointed Imperial Chamber Composer to Joseph II, following the death of Christoph Willibald Gluck. Though not the most high profile position, this was significant recognition, one which the composer was to enjoy until the Emperor s death in 1970. By the end of the following year MOZART was seriously ill partly through exhaustion due to obsessive overwork, but the cause of his death on 5 December has never been conclusively established; symptoms included swelling of the limbs and acute fever. Some of the numerous myths about his life (not least about his death) have been sustained by a Pushkin play, a Rimsky Korsakov opera based on Pushkin, and Amadeus, a 1979 Peter Shaffer play which became an award winning film directed by Milos Forman.

4 In many respects a highly distorted account of MOZART s life, Amadeus is best regarded as fiction. Symphonies MOZART was still only about nine years old when he composed his earliest symphonies. While in a few of these he adheres to the three movement, Italian style form, he soon came to favour the four movement structure including a minuet, and early as his 18th year he composed his first masterpiece in this genre: Symphony in G minor, which was very soon followed by another brilliantly individual work , in A major. The outstanding sequence from onwards culminated in four profound masterworks: ( Prague ) and the final, wonderfully diverse trilogy Nos. 39 41. The contrapuntal tour de force that forms the finale of represents an innovatory shift in the balance of symphonic form, transferring the greatest weight from first movement to last.

5 Concertante works Most important among MOZART s works for solo instrument and orchestra are the piano concertos, a genre that he raised to a new artistic level. The dozen or so finest of them form a body of work that surpasses even his symphonic achievement. Apart from the wonderful Concerto in E flat K271, the most outstanding examples date from MOZART s Viennese period. During the years 1784 6 he composed a wonderful succession of 12 concertos beginning with K449 eight of them completed between February 1784 and March 1785. Even more remarkable is their diversity, each work being strikingly individual in character. Until the mid 20th century only two or three of MOZART s piano concertos were well known, but nowadays the many other great examples are widely appreciated. Among them can also be found a fine work for two pianos (K365) and one for three pianos (K242).

6 MOZART s string concertos include works for violin (delightful concertos composed during his teenage years), violin and viola (the Sinfonia Concertante K364, one of the greatest works from his Salzburg years), and two violins. In the wind concertos, for bassoon, horn (four completed works), flute, flute and harp, oboe and, above all, clarinet, MOZART shows a deep understanding of each instrument s character and technique. The authenticity of another Sinfonia Concertante for four wind instruments, K297b has been questioned by some scholars. Serenades, divertimenti, dances etc. MOZART composed numerous serenades, divertimenti, dances and marches genres that are loosely categorised as mere entertainment music, though they are by no means short of masterpieces by the composer. The substantial list of orchestral serenades and divertimenti more than 30 works begins with the 17 movement potpourri Galimathias Musicum K32 and continues with the cassations K63 and K64.

7 Among the finest of the mature orchestral serenades are the Posthorn Serenade K320 (with a particularly impressive opening movement), the celebrated Eine kleine Nachtmusik K525 and the Serenata Notturna K239. The more extended, eight movement Haffner Serenade includes a self contained violin concerto, while A Musical Joke K522 is a merciless lampoon of third rate composers and performers. Two beguiling examples of the 16 year old MOZART s genius are the string Divertimenti K136 and 137. Supreme among MOZART s serenades are four great wind compositions K361, K375, K388 and K406 magnificent works that transcend their original function as entertainment music. MOZART s passion for dancing is reflected in the dance rhythms that sometimes characterise his concert works. A large proportion of his music specifically intended for dancing dozens of contredanses, minuets, German dances etc.

8 Dates from 1787 91, written for the annual carnivals as part of his duties at the court of Joseph II. Chamber music MOZART s chamber music with strings includes string quartets, string quintets (with two violas), piano quartets, piano trios, and duo sonatas for piano and violin. Although MOZART is generally regarded as a perfecter of existing genres rather than an innovator, his string quintets and the two superb piano quartets are the first important works of their kind. 13 early 95010 MOZART COMPLETE EDITION 2 string quartets are inevitably overshadowed by the 10 famous quartets beginning with K387 but even these wonderful works are surpassed by the large scale Divertimento for string trio K563 and the five mature string quintets. Six of the piano trios are very early, but the last four, all mature and attractive works, are often underrated.

9 MOZART composed other chamber works featuring solo flute, oboe, horn (a quintet including, rather unusually, two violas) and clarinet (the sublime Clarinet Quintet, composed for the outstanding Anton Stadler). The rare combination of clarinet (again for Stadler), viola and piano inspired MOZART to write a subtle masterpiece, the so called Kegelstatt Trio K498, while the Quintet K452 for piano and wind is another marvellous work for unusual instrumentation. Many of the 30 or so sonatas for piano and violin remain under appreciated, while others, such as the passionate E minor Sonata K304 have always been popular. Like the mature piano trios, many of the later sonatas are of very fine quality. Other chamber works include a group of early flute sonatas, two superb duos for violin and viola, 12 duets for two horns, and a late work that includes the glass harmonica.

10 Keyboard works MOZART composed 18 piano sonatas, of which a few, including the emotionally disturbing A minor K310, the A major K331 (with Turkish Rondo) and the C major Sonata K545 ( for beginners ), are extremely popular. The Sonata in F major K533 (1788) is a particularly fascinating example of what has been described as MOZART s new imperial style, its surface simplicity concealing technical sophistication and intellectual mastery. Two of the finest works for two pianos are the Fugue in C minor (also arranged for strings, K546, with preceding Adagio) and the Sonata in D major K448. MOZART s other miscellaneous keyboard compositions include more than a dozen sets of variations, improvisatory and profound fantasias in minor keys, and the wonderful Rondo in A minor K511 and Adagio in B minor K540. There are also a few sonatas for piano duet and some pieces for organ.