issue one - Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

year). Indeed, perhaps the music itself is the
greatest clue, as it is suffused with agitation,
stark tonal contrast, and a somber underlying
mood. Though a short major key interlude
shines through the thunderclouds of the first
movement, it is dominated by contrasting
ideas and a mood of uneasiness that can’t be
shaken.
The second movement starts off peacefully
enough, and ends this way as well – but
in between, the music is agitated and
the somber mood prevails. A brilliant and
complex, yet unfinished work, perhaps this
symphony is tragic foreboding of a brilliant,
complex and unfinished life.
Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart
b. Salzburg, Austria / January 27, 1756
d. Vienna, Austria / December 5, 1791
Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491
Symphony No. 39 in E-flat Major, K. 543
It is intriguing to theorize that the
compositional form of piano concerto can be
used to trace the development of Mozart’s
musical style – and, indeed, the Classical
style itself, as the twenty-seven concerti for
piano and orchestra that Mozart wrote span
his entire career.
The very first concerti are adaptations of
Baroque sonatas, while the last handful
foreshadow the passion of the Romantic
movement about to appear. His Piano
Concerto No. 24 in C minor is one of only
two of his twenty-seven concerti written in
a minor key (the other being the D minor No.
20) and is one of Mozart’s most important
works. Considered by some to be his greatest
and most complete concerto, the work
dramatically foreshadows the Romantic era
about to be ushered in by Beethoven – and
indeed, Beethoven himself was strongly
influenced by this concerto.
An aspect of Mozart’s music that is not often
shown creeps into this work early and often:
a passionate, brooding, almost tragic feeling
permeates the concerto, an underlying
presence from beginning to end. The work
opens ominously, the principal theme
announced stridently (this theme strongly
inspired Beethoven’s C minor Concerto No.
3) by the orchestra, before the piano enters
singing a different tune; the soloist soon
comes around to the principal theme setting
the tone for the movement, a tone that
marches forward without distraction.
The second movement is dreamy, yet sad and
nostalgic, the principal theme weaving itself
throughout the fabric of the movement in one
form or another.
A set of eight variations carried by different
sections of the orchestra and the soloist,
the finale is one of sparkling brilliance that,
again, never loses its patina of sadness;
especially as the piano introduces the last of
the variations and the minor key takes us to a
dramatic yet ambiguous ending.
“Mozart’s symphonies
shine with their own particular
brilliance...”
Though all of Mozart’s symphonies shine
with their own particular brilliance, the final
great trio of symphonies, 39 to 41, truly rise
above. Symphony No. 39 in E-flat is the least
known of this last trio; it is a work that is
not as dramatic as the 40th, and one that
doesn’t have the shining brilliance the Jupiter
symphony. But it was created on an heroic
scale, in a climate of nobility foreshadowing
The Magic Flute. Though this symphony is
the one most obviously indebted to Joseph
Haydn, the end result of the combination of
forms and devices is completely Mozart.
The nobility is restrained, the humour
refined, the orchestration and melodies
crisp and efficient, yet flush with brilliance
and innovation – all typical characteristics
of Mozart’s music. The piece does stray
somewhat from Mozart’s normal modus
operandi, though, in its unusual ending:
a compact, open-ended idea dominates
the finale, posing a question rather than a
resolution – leaving
the audience anticipating more. ■
Program notes ©2010 Sophia Vincent
allegro 33