Earl Wild and Zaidee Parkinson at sessions, November 1975 WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) AB The three works presented on this recording have one thing in common: all require two pianists. But there the similarity ends because each of the works fea- tures a unique approach to dialog. In the Sonata in F Major for one piano four hands, K. 497, the two pianists sit next to each other at a single piano and look in the same direction. The work is less a duet than a piece for a single player hav- ing four hands, if such a thing were possible, inasmuch as one pianist plays the treble part of the piece while the other plays the bass. In the Sonata in D Major for two pianos, K. 448, the two players sit facing each other at opposing pianos, the one responding to the other in such a way that a single, coherent conversation results. And in the Piano Concerto in E-flat Major for two pianos, K. 365, the most complex arrangement of the three, the pianists interact with each other, but together they engage the orchestra in a larger conversation. Mozart’s interest in the concerto began when he was eleven. His earliest con- certos were merely groupings of sonata movements by Bach’s sons Carl Philipp Emanuel and Johann Christian, among other composers, to which he added pas- sages for the orchestra. He composed his first completely original piano concerto (K. 175) in 1773 when he was seventeen, and wrote the double concerto No. 10 in E-flat, performed here by Mr. Wild and Ms. Parkinson, at the end of his Salzburg period, around 1775-1777, intending it for performance by himself and his older sister Nannerl. His work in this genre reached full flower after he settled – 2 – in Vienna in 1781 at age twenty-five, though at first his career in the capital was primarily as a pianist, performing, teaching and organizing piano acade- mies. Thereafter he composed another seventeen concertos, not as abstract exercises, but in an effort to promote his academies and his own public renown. “Before Mozart’s time, concer- tos seldom figured in Viennese public concerts; regular concerts featuring concertos seem to have started with him” (Joseph Kerman). Michael Steinberg has written that the concerto is essentially a conversa- tion featuring some element of contest or conflict, and that a fundamental inequality between the participants Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart prevails. Part of the appeal is in the way the soloist dominates the many. At the same time, as Bernard Holland of the New York Times writes, in Mozart the balance is fair, unlike the concertos of later com- posers, such as Chopin and Rachmaninoff, who “stacked the deck against ‘the many’ by giving the orchestra much less to do and swelling the solos to gigantic dimensions.” Mozart’s developing interest in the piano concerto paralleled the emergence – 3 – of the piano itself. The harpsichord was still prevalent in his early years, but grad- ually the power and versatility of the fortepiano made it the keyboard instrument of choice, Mozart’s favorite being those by Stein. The modern concert grand piano is still more powerful and colorful than the fortepiano, but as John Irving remarks, “Mozart is still Mozart, whether played on a Steinway or a Stein.” The broad range of piano concertos spanning Mozart’s entire career demon- strate how his style developed from the galant in his early years through to a grad- ually emerging classical style. With the maturing of his piano concertos, music history also reached new heights. Indeed, his concertos represent one of Mozart’s greatest achievements, through their formal excellence, their expanded role for the orchestra, their subtle dialogs between soloist and orchestra, and their balance between the piano’s virtuosic brilliance and its expressive lyricism. They remain among the most popular works in the western canon. The scoring for K. 365 was originally for the usual small orchestra of strings, oboes, bassoons and horns, but in 1781, for an outdoor concert in Vienna per- formed with his patron and pupil Josepha von Auernhammer, Mozart added tim- pani, clarinets and trumpets. The enlarged version is the one ordinarily used for modern performances. The composer provided cadenzas for the first and last movements, to be played by both pianists together (and heard here), but caden- zas have been written by other composers as well. Béla Bartók, for example, wrote a cadenza for the first piano at the end of the first movement, and one at the end of the third movement for the second piano. The two sonatas heard on this recording—whether or not it was intended by the performers in designing this program—have a special relationship to Mozart’s piano concertos. Composed in Vienna when the concerto form had reached its – 4 – height in the composer’s oeuvre, they “reflect the fusion of orchestra and piano within a piano duet setting” that moves the genre beyond its previous orbits (Mario R. Mercado). “The earlier sonatas were also influenced by the orchestral idiom but the writing suggested rather an orchestral reduction; the later works are wholly pianistic, though shaped by a new symphonic ideal.” The Sonata in F has a pronounced symphonic quality—its slow introduction to the Allegro di molto is more characteristic of symphonies than of sonatas—and is Mozart’s most serious work for piano four hands. Its dramatic intensity puts it on a par with the string quintets. By contrast, the Sonata in D Major, composed in November 1781 for a performance with Auernhammer, the dedicatee, was writ- ten in a predominately antiphonal idiom, and represents a perfect example of the concerto ideal. Both works have a number of repeats, as if to maximize the tactile joys of the two players, but they are usually omitted in modern performances. Although he wrote the first of his five four-hand sonatas when he was nine years old (the Sonata in C Major, K. 19d), Mozart was not the inventor of the genre, contrary to persistent claims (first proposed by his father Leopold). But the bulk of his eighteen piano sonatas (for solo and duet) were written between late 1774 and mid-1790, representing his adulthood and his musical mastery, a late addi- tion to his oeuvre overall. Mozart composed his sonatas for a variety of purposes: for publishing, for teaching purposes, for dedications (and remuneration), and as demonstrations of his piano virtuosity. Four-hand piano music sometimes seems to give more pleasure to the performers than to the audience, being recreational music par excellence. The Germans call it Hausmusik to distinguish it from music for public perfor- mance. But the Sonata in F Major is considered by some to be one of Mozart’s – 5 – most perfect and most mature works, while the earlier Sonata in D Major was considered by Alfred Einstein to be “one of the most profound and most mature of all Mozart’s compositions,” neither work falling to the level of mere domestic music-making. The sonatas constitute a diverse and significant arena of Mozart’s instrumen- tal output and have been a staple of the piano repertoire since early in the nine- teenth century. Mozart’s sonatas have sometimes—unfairly—been considered pedagogically preparatory to those of other masters. Indeed, the popularity and accessibility of Mozart’s sonatas have led audiences to think them easy…and they do enjoy an elegant simplicity. But seasoned professionals know the difficulties of interpreting them with subtlety and finesse. Catherine Kautsky has noted their endless melodic and formal inventiveness, their variety of harmonic movement, and their sheer power of characterization. Music has long been appreciated for the way it can entertain, motivate, calm, and inspire, and Mozart has been played in film and elevators alike. But his music has also been studied for how it can “make you smarter.” Researcher Gordon L. Shaw, in his book Keeping Mozart in Mind, presents scientific evidence that music can enhance learning. His study shows that college students improved their scores on spatial-temporal tests after listening to the Sonata in D Major for two pianos, demonstrating yet again, perhaps, that, in addition to the music itself, immortal truths lurk among the pages of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. © James E. Frazier 2006 – 6 – ZAIDEE PARKINSON AB Peter G. Davis in The New York Times said of Zaidee Parkinson’s performance with Grayson Hurst in Schubert’s Die schone Mullerin, “Miss Parkinson was quite superb in every aspect. She knew precisely when to bring forward important details all of which she shaped with exquisite refinement.” Born in New York, Zaidee Parkinson’s music education started early - she began to play the piano at age five and went on to study with the famed Rosina Lhevinne, Leon Fleischer and Beveridge Webster. She took up composition, with a zeal and seriousness highly unusual for someone her age and became a composi- tion student of Bohuslav Martinu and Stefan Wolpe. As a composer, she developed an understanding of musical relationships; one that in later years propelled her into fascinating innovative programming as well as the founding of the critically acclaimed concert series, ‘Song in Music’. This education gave Ms. Parkinson the solid foundation for developing into a fine performing artist; one with virtuosic skills and musical acumen. Zaidee Parkinson has performed extensively throughout the United States and Europe and has been a guest soloist with the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Festival Orchestra of New York conducted by Alexander Schneider and the Gelders Orchestra, with whom she traveled throughout The Netherlands performing Mozart – 7 – Concerti.