K450 - A Joyful Concerto!

This morning driving along for a morning coffee at Starbuck's, I heard one of my favorite, delightful Mozart Piano Concerto No. 15 in B Flat major, K450, 3rd Movement, light-hearted and joyful, this version recorded by the Berliner Philarmoniker Orchestra, with Daniel Barenboim, conductor and pianist.

I particularly love the third movement. If you have seen the movie Amadeus, this movement is played as Wolfgang jauntingly skips along one of the street of Vienna, in his wonderful, favorite red coat, and wig slightly ascue. He's a bit inebriated, from a bit of wine, but perhaps also from the joy of living. He was quite a success at the time!

This work is a CONCERTANTE piece, a symphonic work with virtuosos passages for a featured instrument, in this case the piano. In other words, it is a SUPER-CONCERTO!
Mozart composed it for a series of concerts he was to perform in Vienna in 1784. He composed No. 15 in March and played it himself when it was first performed. It is a deceptively difficult piece. Sounds easy to play, but therein, is the deception. It flows along, vibrantly, and you follow along, but the virtuousity, intricacy is there for only a master to play at its best.

The piece is categorized as K450, and represents the first of his "Grand" works, as he called them. From this point on, his works take on a tremendous maturity, complexity, though our ear hears only his pleasing and melodic approach.

Hear the third movement here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KykPLfz2xrw

Above is the wonderful statue of Mozart in the Burgarten in Vienna. Below see a close up of the work. He was Vienna's fair-haired boy!