Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major K. 467 is considered by many to be among the most graceful and elegant examples of classical musical literature in the Western world. Mozart exemplifies the classical style by his “uncanny aptitude” to shape and improve upon the inspiration examples, such as his own masterful musician of a father, that came before his music (Hanning 355). The second movement of his C Major Piano Concerto, in F Major, is particularly associated with Mozart’s masterful ability to create a light, refined motion epitomizing the nimble and simple elegance that is with the classical genre.
The movement, “Andante,” begins with a pulsated triplet motion that sustains the augmented melodious phrase allowing a floating dreaminess in a swaying beat felt in patterns of four. This particular “floating” quality allows “the piece to develop and sustain its tonal motion over broad expanses of musical space and time” in a musical experience that seems “never to touch the ground” (Schachter – Zaslaw 327). The accompaniment, whether fixated in the orchestra, or at several moments throughout the piece, belonging to the left hand of the soloist, forms an “aria-like” stream of sound on which the melody line glides comfortably upon (Webster – Zaslaw 128).
In one interpretation of the movement, the Berlin Philharmonic and Daniel Barenboim, Barenboim functioning as the conductor and the soloist, choose to direct the stream of constant motion in a manner that reminiscent of “the cantus firmus in a chorale prelude.” Barenboim, sitting behind the piano, conducts in a traditional manner until his function is forced to change as the soloist when his line begins preceding the introductory statement. Using a brush-stroke like articulations, the inner voiced strings balance the melody from the first violins, establishing the weightless walking tempo. Mozart, and through Barenboim’s playful, slight exaggeration, the first violins sit on the G sharp in the melody of the second measure, increasing the inherent misleading, almost musically humorous neighboring chromatic note. Barenboim, in his choice of interpretation, begins the movement with an exaggeration of the piece’s “interplay between articulation and continuity” through this motion (Schachter – Zaslaw 327).
A contrasting interpretation, that of pianist soloist Pablo Arcencibia and conductor Edvard Tchivzhel of the Orquesta Sinfónica Municipal de Caracas, has choose an alternative tempo in a slightly faster, perhaps more staggering approach to the piece’s chromaticism and musical rhetoric. Seems to affect the longer line, the phrases, in turn, seem to be slightly shorter, seeming to abrupt the sound before it reaches its full maturity within the statement. The A flat major recapitulation, unlike Barenboim’s interpretation, seems to function simply as repetitive, rather than a reinforcement of the theme that leads back to A in measure 89, reminiscing the playful G sharps in the opening melody. Choosing the tempo in the fast motion is not rushing the phrases, but perhaps cutting off the breath. The melody has obvious vocal inspirations and in choosing an exaggeratedly upbeat tempo, perhaps slightly faster than a traditional “Andante,” leaves the soloist breathless.
It is difficult to conclude one interpretation superior to the other, however, Barenboim exemplifies the elegance, weightless lifts and “contrast between rising and falling motion” that is crucial to understanding the particular movement.
WORKS CITED.
Barenboim, Daniel. “Elegant Music - Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21 Barenboim.” www.youtube.com. May 1, 2009. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNX8QH6hstQ >
Burkholder, Peter J. Norton Anthology of Western Music Volume 1: Ancient to Baroque. W. W. Norton & Company. New York, NY. 2006.
Hanning, Barbara. Concise History of Western Music: Third Edition. W. W. Norton & Company. New York, NY 2006.
Schachter, Carl. “Idiosuncratic Features of Three Mozart Slow Movements: The Piano Concertos K. 449, K. 453, and K. 467. Mozart’s Piano Concertos: Text, Context, Interpretation. Ed. Zaslaw, Neal. University of Michigan Press. 1996. 315-335.
Tchivzche, Edvard. “Mozart Concerto 21 2Mov - Pablo Arencibia. ” www.youtube.com May 1, 2009. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5rX9lEOsSc>
Webster, James. “Are Mozart’s Concertos ‘Dramatic?’ Concerto Ritornellos versus Aria Introductions in the 1780s.” Mozart’s Piano Concertos: Text, Context, Interpretation. Ed. Zaslaw, Neal. University of Michigan Press. 1996. 107-139.
