Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Piano Concerto No. 1 in F, K37 (1767)
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat, K39 (1767)
Piano Concerto No. 3 in D, K40 (1767)
Piano Concerto No. 4 in G, K41 (1767)
Overture to ‘Apollo et Hyacinthus’, K38 (Intrada)(1767)
Overture to ‘Bastien und Bastienne’, K50 (Intrada) (1768)
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (piano), Manchester Camerata/Gábor Takács-Nagy
rec. 2023, Stoller Hall, Hunts Bank, Manchester, UK
Chandos CHAN20323 [61]

Mozart’s Piano Concertos 1-4, collected on this CD, are sometimes called his ‘apprentice concertos’, a fair term because his father Leopold in some, perhaps all, cases presented his son with sonatas by other composers, detailed in the contents list at the end of this review, then Mozart’s task was to turn these into music with an orchestral wrap-around and thus create concertos. You might think this is just a historical curiosity, but the outcome was that Mozart fashioned a style of piano concerto writing, away from Bach’s invention of it, which became the norm and helped Mozart become the most prolific of piano concerto composers.

Furthermore, these concertos themselves are full of youthful zest and energy. I’ll dive in with Piano Concerto No. 3 because it’s the only one for which there’s a cadenza by Mozart, and it’s where you’d expect it: near the end of the first movement. ‘Dive in’ is appropriate as descents in semiquavers in octaves are this movement’s main gambit, Mozart’s orchestral introduction prefiguring the piano’s lead with barnstorming confidence. This doesn’t prevent the piano’s sparkle of added decoration showing considerable self-belief. Come the cadenza (tr. 9, 4:18), the orchestral descents in semiquavers are repeated by the soloist, who then matches more modest rising semiquavers against bass crotchets and treble minims, then finally right-hand arpeggios against left-hand rising and falling semiquavers, concluding with a right-hand ascent in demisemiquavers. Flamboyantly well done and clearly relished by both Jean-Efflam Bavouzet and the Manchester Camerata conducted by Gábor Takács-Nagy.

Are there glimpses of mature Mozart? In the CD booklet, both Michael O’Loghlin, who provides informative analysis, and Bavouzet’s illuminating observations as a player, mention the Andante staccato ofPiano Concerto No. 2 being a foretaste of the famous slow movement of Concerto 21 because of the ‘regular triplet pulse and pizzicato string accompaniment.’ In both concertos Mozart’s focus is on the relationship of the soloist’s arioso to the orchestral ambience, but the staccato noted in the second concerto makes its soloist lead more macho and the second part opening (tr. 5, 3:26) gives the orchestra more control, then the soloist switches the melody to the left hand and triplets to the right. It is therefore more experimental and varied in mood, whereas Concerto No. 21 is melodically more suave and ingratiating.

Piano Concerto No. 1 uniquely in this set has one movement, its Andante, with no identification of composer of the piano solos (tr. 4). The question then raised: was this movementcomposed by Mozart? The 1962 edition of the Neue Mozart Ausgabe states it wasn’t but the 2008 revision argues it was. Its opening phrase, a dotted rhythm descending motif, is attractive but not typical Mozart from our later experience. What is typical is the nicely balanced second phrase (tr. 3, 0:11) of dotted rhythm ascending motifs, finished off by more elaborate rising and falling motifs, while all the time two horns provide a luxuriant backcloth. What began as rather skittish has become more caring, sensitive and happily playful. Maybe Leopold jotted down the first phrase and challenged Wolfie, ‘Make a movement out of that.’ You can spot incipient tricks found in later concertos and making the slow movement a character study. From 1:55 a clear development is of a growingly assertive and reflective nature, while Mozart adds a more purposive string bass. He also signals, but doesn’t write out, a cadenza. Bavouzet plays one by Murray Perahia (3:40) and Mozart finishes the movement with the orchestra quite richly resolute.

Piano Concerto No. 4 demonstrates the added value Mozart brings in his orchestral cloak around the original sonatas. As O’Loughlin’s note helpfully details, in the first movement Mozart gives the flutes independent motifs not in the original piano sonata (e.g. tr. 12,0:25-0:52), extending their role at times also as obbligato instruments. The lolloping second half of the opening phrase sets the tone of this effervescent piece, but in using Ashkenazy’s cadenza, Bavouzet also brings out its more reflective contrast before enjoying its cheeky closing descent. Ashkenazy’s own account with the Philharmonia Orchestra, recorded 1987, only available in the UK as a download (Decca 4832744), is more jocular, a buoyant performance with flutes flourishing, splendid but I find the very forward recording a little too dense and overpowering.

I select the Overture to Apollo et Hyacinthus, Mozart’s first opera, as like the concertos it dates from 1767, Mozart aged eleven. What a surprise is in its sheer verve and wide-awake alertness. Written for Salzburg school students, it’s a celebration of liveliness and dramatic effects, rhythm more important than melody, but the two flutes and two horns create a sustaining ambience when the strings are quieter and elsewhere the horns provide fanfares. The highlight for me is the gloriously zestful cameos for strings finishing with descending somersaults in semiquavers (tr. 1, 0:34). The Manchester Camerata and Takács-Nagy get fully into the high spirits, as they do throughout this CD.

Michael Greenhalgh

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Contents
Concerto No. 1
i/after movement 1 from Violin Sonata in F, Op. 1, No. 5 (c. 1760) by Hermann Friedrich Raupach (1728-1778)
ii/composer not cited; cadenza by Murray Perahia
iii/after movement 1 from Harpsichord Sonata in F, Op. 2,, No. 3 (1763) by Leontzi Honauer (1737-c. 1790)’ cadenza by Olivier Messiaen (?)
Concerto No. 2
i/after movement 1 from Violin Sonata in B flat, Op. 1, No. 1 (c. 1760) by Hermann Friedrich Raupach
ii/after movement 1 from Sonata in F, Op. 17, No. 2 by Johann Schobert (1735-1767); cadenza by Vladimir Ashkenazy
iii/after movement 3 from Violin Sonata in B flat, Op. 1, No. 1 by Hermann Friedrich Raupach; cadenza by Vladimir Ashkenazy
Concerto No. 3
i/after movement 1 from Harpsichord Sonata in D, Op. 2, No. 1 (c. 1763) by Leontzi Honauer; cadenza by Mozart
ii/after movement 1 from Keyboard Sonata in A, Op. 1, No. 4 (1763) by Johann Gottfried Eckard (1735-1809)
iii/after Ls Bohmer for Keyboard, H81, Wq. 117/26 (1754) by Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach (1714-1788)
Concerto No. 4
i/after movement 1 from Harpsichord Sonata in G, Op. 1, No. 1 (1761) by Leontzi Honauer; cadenza by Vladimir Ashkenazy
ii/after movement 2 from Violin Sonata in B flat, Op. 1, No. 1 by Hermann Friedrich Raupach
iii/after movement 3 from Harpsichord Sonata in G, Op. 1, No. 1 (1761) by Leontzi Honauer; cadenza by Vladimir Ashkenazy