#1 Monday Morning Mozart: Double Piano Concerto

Where I post a Mozart video, plus some other thoughts

One of my favorite aspect of enjoying classical music is discovering all the numerous performances of the same piece. You see, classical music in its simplest form consists of written notes on a series of lines. While there are countless ways to decipher all the symbols on page, every performance ultimately comes down to how the performer feels the music should sound. To me, that’s why the same piece of music that’s been around for hundreds of years can sound completely fresh with different recordings. And thanks to YouTube, I can access hundreds of both studio and live performances at my fingertips, such as this performance of Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos (which is not played often because you need two high level pianists to solo with an orchestra).

Speaking of YouTube, let me introduce you to the comments:

A little context: Daniel Barenboim and Georg Solti are both highly regarded musicians, Solti the conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Barenboim equally adept as concert pianist and conductor. For this performance, Barenboim was playing Piano 1, while Solti played Piano 2 and conducted.

Generally speaking, orchestras fall under the command of conductors and follows their beat. The two exceptions are: when there is a soloist, or if the orchestra disrespects the podium (that’s a long topic for another time). In this specific instance, Barenboim listened to the orchestra tempo at the beginning, then decided that he wasn’t about that and chose to live a quarter mile at a time.

Did this happen because of a disagreement or argument from rehearsal? (Musicians, especially top-flight ones, can have extreme egos).

Did Barenboim just have the jitters and adrenaline?

Was Barenboim (who later took over as Chicago’s conductor) trying to assert dominance over the situation?

Did he accidentally leave something in the oven and had to rush back home?

Anyways, I hope you think about these things while watching this little ditty of a piece. Enjoy!

Coming soon: Uncut Stems, or an exploration on Mozart’s alleged gambling issues.