WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491 Allegro Larghetto Allegretto Born: January 27, 1756, in Salzburg Died: December 5, 1791, in Vienna Work compoSed: 1786 World premiere: April 7, 1786, in Vienna, Mozart aS SoloiSt ClaSSical era composerS infrequently Set WorkS in minor keyS; When they did So they typically ended optimiStically bathed in the reaSSuring comfort of the major, aS indeed Mozart did in the otherWiSe Stormy Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466. In No. 24 in C minor, K. 491, there iS no Such conceSSion; perhapS that iS why thiS work so entranced Beethoven whoSe Piano Concerto No. 3, alSo in C minor, conveys a Similar degree of anxiety and drama. If anything, Mozart’S primary theme in the opening movement iS even more troubling than Beethoven’S, the reSult of K. 491’S chromaticiSm and oddly diScomfiting 3/4-time meter. With an orcheStral tapeStry rich in Wind timbreS (oboeS and clarinetS), Mozart’S C-minor Piano Concerto iS hiS darkest orchestral Work. Only in hiS G-minor String Quintet, K. 516, does he So readily plumb Such depths of feeling — and even there he endS the finale With a Sudden and reSolute Shift into Sunny G major! The opening Allegro begins quietly but menacingly in the orchestra, a broadly Spanned main theme incorporating a SerieS of Stark and Stabbing chromatic leapS that muSt have utterly confounded the SenSibilitieS of hiS VienneSe patronS. When the theme iS repeated, it iS played at a louder and more overtly threatening dynamic level. ThiS iS the kind of dark and diSturbing muSic that led early 19th century compoSerS like Schumann and even young BrahmS to vieW Mozart aS one of their own — a Romantic. A brief phraSe for flute near the movement’S cloSe iS Subtly menacing, belying that inStrument’S uSual upbeat Sonority. The beguiling Simplicity of the Larghetto in E-flat major iS an appropriate retreat from the smoldering passion of the opening Allegro. In many of his major-key concertoS Mozart inveSted hiS SloW movementS With emotion, but here the procedure iS reverSed. The Larghetto is all balm and euphony. The finale, a Set of variations rather than a customary rondo, returnS to the tragic mood of the opening movement. The late Abraham VeinuS, Whose fine Study of the concerto from the middle of the 20th century haS Stood the paSSage of time, Wrote, “The C-minor iS the one Mozart concerto that has the true epic SWeep, the anguiShed heroiSm and the rock-like grandeur that one expectS more readily from a Beethoven or a Michelangelo.” .