Hosted by eminent conductor, pianist and man-about-music Andre Previn this series tells the story of Mozart's travels, featuring a piano concerto from each period of his life. With performances by well-known international soloists.
Episode 9 - Vienna/Prague (Piano Concerto KV 491)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart hardly ever did anything by halves. When he decided to compose his magnum opus, he based it on a play considered downright seditious at the Austrian court and banned by the royal censors. His librettist da Ponte was assigned the onerous task of convincing the emperor the operatic version would not set the tumbrils rolling. Da Ponte must have been a super salesman, because not only was "The Marriage Figaro" performed, it opened the season - Mozart wouldn't have it any other way.
While perhaps not rife with the political satire of its original author, Pierre Caron de Beaumarchais, whose leading character "Figaro" is a pun on his own name, le Fils Caron (Caron junior), Mozart's work asks some pretty basic questions about the relationships of men and women, the aristocracy and their servants, and is, to this day, possibly the most mature, genuinly human operatic composition ever written, with sublimely beautiful music the supports, intensifies and enhances the drama every step of the way.
Like Mozart's operas, concert KV 491 is solid drama from start to finish, with a minor harmonic structure reminiscent of "Don Giovanni". In our performance, recorded at Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna, the host of "Mozart on Tour" does double-duty as a soloist and conductor of the European Chamber Orchestra.
Episode 10 - Prague (Piano Concerto KV 488)
Mozart was invited to Prague to conduct his "Marriage of Figaro", an opera that had been more controversial than successful at its Viennese premiere. Tthe composition took the Czech capital completely by storm and resulted in the commision for "Don Giovanni", to anotehr libretto by that prolific, one-of-a-kind wordsmith, Lorenzo da Ponte, who was so facile that he batted out the inspired words for Mozart's immortal music while simultaneously working on two libretti for other composers. Everything about the concerto KV 488 is operatic in approach and execution - from the grand drama of the opening bars to the sublime, vocal lyricism of the central movement, to the soaring melody of the finale.
In our performance, Hungarian pianist Zoltan Kodcis joins Czech conductor Jiri Belohlavek and the Prague Chamber Orchestra in the great hall of Waldstein Palace in Prague.
| Genre | CLASSICAL |
| Catalogue Number | 92816 |
| Running Time | mins |
| Rating | E |
| Media | DVD |
| Special Features | None |
| Subtitles | |
| Language | English |
| System | NTSC |
Release Date : --
