Salvatore Accardo, Mozart - Concertos KV 207, 211, 218 (TAPE)

TAPE 1

Konzert fur Violine und Orchester Nr.1 B-dur KV 207
Allegro moderato  7'44"
Adagio  9'33"
Presto  5'47"

TAPE 2

Konzert fur Violine und Orchester Nr.2 D-dur KV 211
Allegro moderato  8'57"
Andante  8'53"
Rondeau (Allegro)  4'52"

Konzert fur Violine und Orchester Nr.4 D-dur KV 218
Allegro  8'57"

TAPE 3

Konzert fur Violine und Orchester Nr.4 D-dur KV 218

Andante cantabile  8'00"
Rondeau (Andante grazioso – Allegro ma non troppo)  8'10"

Rondeau fur Violine und Orchester in C-dur KV 373 
Allegretto grazioso  5'52"

Kadenzen: S. Sciarrino

Conceived, mastered and produced by Giulio Cesare Ricci
Recorded at Villa Contarini in Piazzola sul Brenta (PD) 
Recording data 20th-21th February 1990

The peculiar and almost impromptu importance of the genre of the Violin concerto in the catalogue of Mozart’s musical production is highlighted by the very limited space of time in which the five most important compositions of this type appeared (all within the one year 1775). It is not easy to understand the reason for this constriction in time, especially if we consider that Mozart was one of the few great composers able to play the piano and the violin perfectly; whereas his activity as a virtuoso pianist remained a constant throughout his life, his activity as a concert violinist came to an abrupt and inexplicable end after flourishing so signally in that 1775. Perhaps psychoanalysis alone will shed light on this peculiar aspect of Mozart’s creativity, starting with an investigation of the complex relationship that the musician had with his father Leopold, an important violinist and theoretician, author of a seminal treatise (Versuch einer grundlichen Violinschule – published coincidentally in the very year in which Wolfgang was born). And yet the notion of an “inferiority complex” would seem to be contradicted by a famous letter from Leopold to his son: referring to Wolfgang’s recent success as a concert violinst in Germany, Leopold writes: “I’m not at all surprised. You yourself do not realise how well you play the violin”. Mozart undoubtedly used the five Violin concertos that he composed in 1775 (KV 207, 211, 216, 218 and 219) for his own activity as a soloist in his home town in Salzburg. Only later did these works become part of the repertoire of the violinist Gaetano Brunetti, who entered the court of Prince Colloredo as official soloist. These concertos, which reflect French style galant but also borrow from the grand Italian violin tradition, contain some of Mozart’s most beautiful and inspired melodies. The series opens with the brief B flat major concerto KV 207, completed on 14th April 1775; it is in this work that we can most clearly detect the adherence of the ninenteen-year-old Mozart to the style of the great Italian maestros (Tartini, Geminiani, Nardini, Locatelli...) with whom he was familiar, both thanks to his father and through direct experience of their music during the trips he had made to Italy. This concerto appears abundant in ideas but rather lacking in balance in its developments and generally not particularly consistent in the global architecture of its three movements. At Brunetti’s request Mozart replaced the elaborated Presto finale with a lighter Rondo completed a year later. The second Concerto, KV 211 in D major, was completed in June 1775, and is again lacking in contrast and in no sense an innovative composition. The opening movement is an Allegro in which the soloist does no more than reply politely to the theme stated by the orchestra. The central Andante is more graceful – throughout these concertos it is in the slow movement that the sweet, melodic voice of genius rings out – with motion that might call to mind a delicate theatrical aria. The third movement, Rondo, reflects French taste but is no more than a pleasant, generic elaboration. Luca Chierici