MOZART IN THE SOUTH

New Zealand Listener, Volume 21, Issue 535, 23 September 1949, Page 8

MOZART IN THE SOUTH

ALEKSANDR HELMANN, the visiting Russian-American pianist, will be associated with the National Orchestra in its second Invercargill concert this Saturday evening, September 24, when the Mozart A Major Concerto will be presented. Here is an outline of the work,

written for "The Listener"

by

BESSIE

POLLARD

M OZART’S A Major Piano Concerto was one of three written during the winter of 1785-6--the E Flat (K.482), the A Major (K.488), and the C Minor (K.491). During this same period he was engaged upon The Marriage of Figaro. The A Major Concerto was completed by March 2, 1786, and it formed one of a series of works forwarded by Mozart to fulfil a commission by Prince Furstenberg at Donaueschingen. The first movement-Allegro-begins with the customary orchestral tutti, in which the main themes are presented, "A" below gives the first four bars of the principal subject, while "B" below shows the opening phrase of the second theme, which appears in bar 31-

At the end of this long tutti passage, the soloist enters, taking over the main themes of the movement. The development section begins in bar 143, and here a new theme is heard, announced by strings —

The cadenza is followed by a coda passage, beginning in bar 299, The slow movement-Adagio-has for its main theme a subject which has been described as one of the loveliest in all music. It is announced at the outset by the soloist ("A" below). In bar 35, a woodwind passage marks the beginning of the middle section ("B" below), The key of this slow movement-F sherp minor-is an unusual one for Mozart, and the tonality invests it with great emotional intensity and depthDS ee

The Finale-Allegro assai-fairly bubbles with happiness, although at times one is conscious of that slight after-tang of sadness, which is invariably present even in Mozart’s most light-hearted works. The movement is cast as a Rondo. The soloist announces the main theme at the beginning ("A" below), then follows the orchestral tutti, In bar 62, the subsidiary theme enters ("B" below)-

Two additional important melodies are introduced in the course of the movement ("A" and "B" below)-

The Piano Concerto in A, K.488 by Mozart, with Aleksandr Helmann as soloist, will be presented at the second Invercargill concert of the National Orchestra, conducted by Andersen Tyrer, on Saturday, September 24,