Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 was composed in 1785 at the height of his popularity in Vienna. The piece was an immediate success at its February 11 premiere. Following his usual practice, Mozart performed the solo part himself, leading the orchestra from the keyboard.
In a letter to Mozart’s sister, his father Leopold reported, “The concerto was incomparable, the orchestra excellent,” but also noted that “the copyist was still working when we arrived, and your brother did not even have time to play the rondo [the last movement] through, as he had to look through the copying,” suggesting that Mozart had once again waited until the last minute to put music on paper.
As was common practice in Mozart’s day, the first movement begins with an orchestral introduction. The opening looks forward to the dark music Mozart would write for the final scene of Mozart’s Opera Don Giovanni two years later.
Here is a pianist whom I always admire, Helene Grimaud, as she plays the third movement of this great concerto:
