Episodes
Episode | First Broadcast | Comments |
---|---|---|
01 | 20051128 | Donald Macleod goes in search of Mozart the keyboard player, a young man who arrived in Vienna in 1781 and whose brilliance as performer, composer and impresario turned a city upside down in what was to become one of the most remarkable decades in musical history. 12 Variations on Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman, K265 (excerpt) András Schiff (piano) Concerto for Two Pianos No 10 in E flat, K365 (finale) Alfred Brendel, Imogen Cooper (piano) ASMF Neville Marriner (conductor) Sonata for Two Pianos K448 (2nd movement) Ingrid Haebler, Ludwig Hoffman (piano) Fantasia in Dm, K397 Emil Gilels (piano) Piano Concerto No 12 in A, K414 Howard Shelley (piano) London Mozart Players. |
02 | 20051129 | In 1784 Mozart was at the height of his powers. He was newly wed and happy, he composed a spectacular series of six Piano Concertos, and one of the greatest chamber works in the entire repertoire. Donald Macleod tells the story of this annus mirabilis. Piano Concerto No 14 in E flat, K449 Malcolm Bilson (fortepiano) English Baroque Soloists John Eliot Gardiner (director) Quintet for Piano and Winds in E flat, K452 Murray Perahia (piano) Neil Black (oboe) Thea King (clarinet) Anthony Halstead (horn) Graham Sheen (bassoon) Piano Concerto No 15 in B flat, K450 (finale) Robert Levin (fortepiano) Academy of Ancient Music Christopher Hogwood (conductor). |
03 | 20051130 | Nothing lasts for ever, not even for Mozart. As 1784 turned to 1785, and as his astonishingly successful year of subscription concerts faded into the memory, Mozart's career took what the Viennese public saw as a couple of faltering steps. Donald Macleod weighs up the evidence. Piano Sonata in Cm, K457 Mitsuko Uchida (piano) Piano Concerto No 18 in B flat, K456 (slow movement) Richard Goode (piano) Orpheus Chamber Orchestra Piano Quartet in Gm, K478 Sonnerie Monica Hugget (violin) Alison McGillivray (cello) Gary Gooper (fortepiano). |
04 | 20051201 | Donald Macleod's survey of Mozart's relationship with the piano focuses on some of the works that the composer wrote for - and performed with - friends and musical colleagues during his Viennese decade. Sonata for Violin and Piano in B flat, K454 Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin) Alexander Lonquich (piano) Ch'io mi scordi di te, K505 Cecilia Bartoli (mezzo soprano) András Schiff (fortepiano) Vienna Chamber Orchestra Gyorgy Fischer (conductor) Trio in E flat, K498, Kegelstatt for Piano, Clarinet, and Viola Sabine Meyer (clarinet) Tabea Zimmermann (viola) Hartmut Höll (piano) Mozart the Keyboard Player 4/5. |
05 LAST | 20051202 | The tragic decline of Mozart's last years is well documented, but despite circumstances that would have crushed most lesser mortals, works of sublime beauty continued to flow from his pen. Donald Macleod enjoys some of Mozart's exquisite keyboard works of this final period. Der Frühling, K597 (excerpt) Barbara Bonney (soprano) Geoffrey Parsons (piano) Piano Trio No 5 in E, K542 Beaux Arts Trio Menahem Pressler; Isidor Cohen; Bernard Greenhouse Sehnsucht nach dem Frühling, K596 Piano Concerto No 27 in B flat, K595 Alfred Brendel (piano) ASMF Neville Marriner (conductor). |