BaL 24.12.16/10.12.22 - Mozart: Piano Concerto no. 21 in C, K467

[Petrushka]

I didn't know that!

The Proms Guide said No 22 but it turned out to be 26 on the night.

[Pulcinella]

I didn't know that!

Do you mean that you went and have only just realised/found out that you heard something other than you thought?

[Nick Armstrong]

Do you mean that you went and have only just realised/found out that you heard something other than you thought?

Not quite - I went and had a good concert, ignorant that there'd been a programme change - but in retrospect would have preferred to hear the piece originally scheduled! (I do think - and did think during the concert - that No 26 sounds like Mozart turning it out 'by the yard'... whereas No 22 is inspired).

[Barbirollians]

I rest my case .

[BBMmk2]

I rest my case .

M'lawd! :)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Each to his/her own, I suppose.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I rest my case .

Which one, Barbs? The "Bilson is prosaic although I haven't heard this recording" or the "DON makes bizarre choices"? In both instances, I think on this occasion the Judge dismisses the charges for lack of evidence.

[Barbirollians]

Which one, Barbs? The "Bilson is prosaic although I haven't heard this recording" or the "DON makes bizarre choices"? In both instances, I think on this occasion the Judge dismisses the charges for lack of evidence.

A self appointed judge .

I thought that the Bilson was indeed prosaic and I could not understand his preference for his tinkly piano to that played by Brautigam which sounded much more interesting .

It was obvious after his Op 111 review that he would choose a fortepiano recording but this sounded just dull .

[verismissimo]

Which one, Barbs? The "Bilson is prosaic although I haven't heard this recording" or the "DON makes bizarre choices"? In both instances, I think on this occasion the Judge dismisses the charges for lack of evidence.

This is a regular issue on these boards, ferney. Not only did the reviewer not check in here as to what might be acceptable, but he actually chose a recording not heard here but cordially disliked. Disgraceful. Something must be done.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

A self appointed judge .

Who? Did DON just stumble into the studio off the street and hijack the studio?

I thought that the Bilson was indeed prosaic and I could not understand his preference for his tinkly piano to that played by Brautigam which sounded much more interesting .

I agree completely that the Brautigam is a much "better" performance (trans "I much prefer it") - but DON (in his annoying, self-congratulatory way) made his reasons for his own preference perfectly clear, and the details he supplied illustrated the poetic aspects of the Bilson/Gardiner performance and recording.

We're all "self-appointed judges" in our response to the reviewers, and I find DON's presentation style when left on his own (he's much better housetrained when in conversation with others) eternally annoying. But sifting the substance from the manner, I thought his demonstration of (and comments on) recordings by Schnabel, Perahia, Brendel, Barenboim (!), and the Busoni cadenza - as well as his final choice - well argued and judged.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

This is a regular issue on these boards, ferney. Not only did the reviewer not check in here as to what might be acceptable, but he actually chose a recording not heard here but cordially disliked. Disgraceful. Something must be done.

Well - getting into a Christmas spirit - the Forum is a chatroom, and Forumistas' contributions (particularly on the BaL Threads) are to be taken in the spirit of a chat/argument amongst friends, rather than erudite scholarly lectures. I enjoy Barb's reactions to the BaL (based, as they are, on real love of the Music) and enjoyed even more disagreeing with them!

[LeMartinPecheur]

I have 11 commercial recordings (all of them listed in #1) plus the BBC MM Curzon/BBCSO/Klee, so it ought to be a cheap Saturday But no promises

One slight mystery though. My trusty card index also tells me I have 9 x 20, 13 x 23, 14 x 24, 7 x 25, 10 x 27 but only 3 of 22. (And of 26, but that's more explicable.)

I think 22 is a really fine concerto, fully comparable to all the other properly finished late ones, and was amazed (horrified) to find so few versions of it on my shelves. Does it get fewer recordings for some reason? Or is it so well loved that people hang on to their discs so that they don't turn up in charity shops - my main source of random CD purchases - as often as the others?

It was indeed a cheap BaL chez LMP. Turned out that Bilson was one of the 11 as a charity shop purchase Must give it another spin.

FWIW, I thoroughly enjoyed the programme and was very pleased he found time to comment on, and not to dismiss, Annie Fischer's Busoni cadenza. That was my very first LP of WAM piano concertos (now repurchased on CD via the big AF Icon box). Coupled with 22 on the Concert Classics LP, so a big reason why I particularly love that work too - see earlier post re under-representation of K482 above.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Very good question. Perhaps we don't accord greatness to anything in E flat major.

Alison: is [this] the thing about string players not liking flat keys because of loss of open strings and hence increased difficulty with tuning? Or is there some special reason for hating Eb?? I guess 3 flats was about as far flat-wards as classical composers generally went with strings(?).

Isn't the Eroica in Eb? - I think some people think this is a great work...

[DracoM]

Whatever he reviews, and whatever his final choices, DON is a broadcasting unmissable.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Alison: is the thing about string players not liking flat keys because of loss of open strings and hence increased difficulty with tuning? Or is there some special reason for hating Eb?? I guess 3 flats was about as far flat-wards as classical composers generally went with strings(?).

Isn't the Eroica in Eb? - I think some people think this is a great work...

It's true that for beginners it's more difficult for string players to play in flat keys for a number of reasons, and the fact that the fingers are used to sharpen the notes. Similarly brass players prefer flat keys, one reason being that the valves flatten the notes.