楽曲解説 / Program Notes

By April L. Racana

Thursday, February 25, The 99th Tokyo Opera City Subscription Concert
Friday, February 26,Sunday, February 28,

The 874th Suntory Hall Subscription Concert
The 875th Bunkamura Orchard Hall Subscription Concert

Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major K. 488

By the time Mozart had left the serviceof the Archbishop in Salzburg to pursue
his musical career in Vienna in 1781,
he had already composed six piano
concertos. But it was during his years
in Vienna that he not only relied on
additional compositions in this genre toestablish himself both as a composer andas a pianist, but also depended on themfor financial support. Scholars point to
his development as a composer throughhis various concerti, the first of which wascomposed when he was still a child at theage of eleven. The last was composed
in 1791, the same year of his death. The
first concerti were more along the linesof arrangements of other composers’sonatas, with the addition of orchestralinterludes and accompaniments. But
it wasn’t long before he created hisown thematic material on his way tocomposing 27 piano concertos, morethan any other composer.
The Piano Concerto in A major, No.
23 was completed on March 2, 1786
and is believed to have been premieredby the composer himself at one of his
subscription concerts later in the spring.
Mozart began to explore, to a muchgreater extent, the use of winds in his
later concertos, especially highlighting
the two clarinets as a more mellow
alternative to the sharper timbre of theoboe. Contrasting with the two concerti
composed on either side of this one, with
their more heavily dramatic orchestrations
and themes, the 23rd Piano Concerto is set
in a more chamber-like setting (withouttrumpets and timpani), providing a more
intimate association between the soloist
and the various ensembles within theorchestra.

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オーチャードOrchardHall

I. Allegro (ca. 11 min)II. Adagio (ca. 7 min)III. Allegro assai (ca. 8 min)2

サントリーHall
Suntory

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

オペラシテ
ィ
Opera
City

Program Notes

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The opening movement (Allegro) inA major is gentle and graceful in tone,
with hints of the melancholy to come,and a closing cadenza written out by
the composer. The second movement
is one of only two Adagios found in allof Mozart’s piano concerti and the onlyin the key of F sharp minor. The scenechange is immediate here with the soloist’s
opening melancholy melody in 6/8 meter,
the orchestra drawn in to the emotion,
before the soloist expands further. Thewinds enter midway with a lighter tune
in a major key, as if to try to lift spirits.
However, the soloist soon returns to theoriginal melancholic mood, with thewinds’ interspersed accompanimentas if offering comfort, and the strings
eventually tip-toeing on offbeats as themovement comes to a close. Anotherchange of scenery as the final movement13

楽曲解説 / Program Notes

Instrumentation: flute, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons,2 horns, strings, solo piano

Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp minor
Part I
I. Trauermarsch - In gemessenem
Schritt. Streng. Wie ein Kondukt.
(ca. 12 min)II. Stürmisch bewegt, mit größter
Vehemenz (ca. 15 min)Part II
III. Scherzo. Kräftig, nicht zu schnell(ca. 17 min)Part III
IV. Adagietto, Sehr langsam(ca. 9 min)V. Rondo-Finale. Allegro giocoso(ca. 15 min)
Mahler’s Fifth Symphony marks, atleast in hindsight, the beginning of whatis termed his middle period, together
with his Sixth and Seventh Symphonies.
Not only had the composer begun his
fourth decade, but he also had a nearlyfatal health scare when he experienced amajor hemorrhage in February of 1901.
In spite of this incident he was on the topof his game professionally as the principal
director of the Vienna Philharmonic andas director of the Vienna Court Opera.
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He was established well enough that hewas even able to retreat to his own villain the south of Austria, where he began
sketching out the first movements of thiswork during the summer of 1901.
It was later that same year he met
Alma Schindler, whom he marrieds h o r t l y t h e r e a f t e r. Th e f o l l o w i n gsummer found the composer completingthe final movements of this work withhis new wife at his side and a babyon the way. Apparently, Alma was agreat support for Mahler, on a personalas well as professional level, being a
musician and composer herself. Not
only did she provide inspiration for his
creative juices, (the Adagietto has been
said to be a love song written for her),but she also acted as copyist for him.
And when copying parts of the Fifth
Symphony she even provided critiquefor her husband, pointing out a passage
where the percussion seemed a bit on
the heavy side. Mahler agreed andmade the necessary changes.
Th e r e i s a m a r k e d s h i f t i n h i ssymphonic writing during this middle
period, whether due to his personal

Although the Fifth Symphony is divided
into five separate movements, thesemovements have been delineated into
three over-arching parts. Part I includes
the opening Funeral March as well as
the second movement, Allegro. The
former acting as an opening prelude ofsorts to the latter, and the two presented
in reverse of the traditional symphonicf o r m a t , w i t h t h e f a s t e r m ove m e n tdelayed. The Scherzo is the centerpieceof the work and makes up the whole ofPart II. It is said to give a nod to Strauss,
and in all its complexities it juxtaposes
the ländler and the waltz. Referring to
his move away from the integration ofsong with symphony, Mahler stated:“The human voice would be absolutely
out of place here. There is no need forwords, everything is purely musicallyexpressed.” Part III is made up of the
final two movements of the symphony.

The Adagietto utilizes only strings andalso acts as a prelude to final movement,Rondo-Finale. It is here where his use ofcounterpoint is perhaps developed to thegreatest extent.
The work was premiered in Octoberof 1904, in Cologne, after numerous
revisions. Following this first performance
Mahler is quoted as saying: “Nobodyunderstood it. I wish I could conduct
the first performance fifty years after mydeath.” Perhaps as a consequence of
this perception he continued to revise
the work for many years afterward, witha final revision in 1911 just prior to hisdeath. After this last revision, Mahler
again acknowledged his move into a
new period of his creative life when hecommented:

2“I have finished the Fifth. I had in fact
to re-instrumentate the whole of it. I
simply cannot understand how I could
have fallen back into such beginner’s
errors at that time. Evidently theroutine I had developed in the first foursymphonies let me down completelyon this occasion – when a completely
new style required a new technique.”25226

オーチャードOrchard
Hall

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)

circumstances or whether he was simply
maturing as a composer, is left up tomuch debate. However, one can easily
discern a distinct departure from theprevious symphonic works whose focus
was the infusion of song with symphony.
Although there are still passing references
to lieder he was composing at the time,
the focus was away from programmaticmusic. Instead, the development ofintricate instrumental themes can beheard, especially reflecting the study ofBach’s counterpoint techniques as Mahler
masterfully weaves those throughout thework.

サントリーHall
Suntory

It seemed Mozart did not allow thiswork to be published in his lifetime,allowing only a very few trusted friends
to retain scores, preferring to keep it forhimself, even when finances becamedifficult. In a letter to his father he wrotethat this was one of “the compositions
that I keep for myself or for a small
circle of music-lovers and connoisseurs,
who promise not to let them out of
their hands.” Not surprisingly, it has
become one of his most well loved piano
concertos.

オペラシティ
OperaCity

suddenly stirs the performers, and inparticular the soloist, into a rondo full of
playful energy and high-spirited dancing
before the proverbial curtain comes
down.

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Instrumentation: 4 flutes (3rd and 4th doublingon piccolos), 3 oboes (3rd doubling Englishhorn), 3 clarinets (3rd doubling on Es〔 E-flat〕
clarinet and bass clarinet), 3 bassoons (3rddoubling on contrabassoon), 6 horns, 4trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, snare
drums, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, tam-tam,whip, glockenspiel, harp, strings

April L. Racana / Music Specialist at Nishimachi International School where she has taught since1992. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana(BS/Piano Pedagogy) and her graduate studies at San Francisco State University (MA/Music).

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