Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 10/28/2010, uploaded on 02/07/2011

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Following only a month after the previous D minor Concerto, Mozart completed his Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major on March 9, 1785. Unlike the doleful opening of the D minor Concerto, the C major Concerto opens with a joyful march-like theme sounding as if in the distance. The march-like theme comes to the fore with its second statement and is elaborated on, though it essentially serves as an introduction for the soloist. Entering with a short cadenza, the march-like theme is heard once more underneath a trill in the piano before the soloist takes the lead, presenting a new melodic idea in the tonic key. The bipartite second theme begins first in the key of dominant minor with an eerie foreshadowing of the famous opening melody of Mozart's G minor Symphony that would appear three years later. This darker hues of G minor soon, however, give way to the second half of the theme—a lyrical idea in a sunny G major. The exposition passes seamlessly into the development. Passing through a myriad of keys, the development eventually comes to rest on a dominant pedal culminating in the return of the opening march-like theme. This time the soloist does not wait for its turn to enter and takes part in a delightful series of imitations with the orchestra. The melancholy G minor melody is skipped over in the development and the movement maintains its joyous character until the final cadence.

The middle Andante movement in F major begins with a lyrical tune in the violins over a gentle repeated note accompaniment. At first the soloist answers the tune of the orchestra but then departs into a new melodic idea. Twice throughout the movement the soloist makes such a departure, but each time is pulled back to the opening melody like some celestial body attempting to escape the gravity of its host, only to end up orbiting within its domain. A final statement of the melody, starting in A-flat major but finding its way back to the tonic of F, concludes the movement.

The finale begins with a lively Rondo theme first heard in the orchestra and answered by the piano. Throughout, the movement is joyous and triumphant. Melodic ideas are tossed between the orchestra and the soloist, who provides sparkling embellishments of scales and arpeggios. A final cadenza precedes the last statement of the Rondo theme and exhilarating scales lead to a triumphant ending.    Joseph DuBose