Piano Concerto No. 12 in A Major, K. 414
For piano with 2 oboes, 2 horns and strings
Allegro
Andante
Rondeau: Allegretto
Program Notes by Martin Pearlman
Mozart's twelfth piano concerto, the Concerto in A, K. 414, was one of three concertos that he wrote in 1782 and early 1783 for himself to play. He had recently moved to Vienna and, to help establish his reputation in the city, he wanted new concertos to impress the general public. In a letter to his father, he described his intentions:
These concertos are a happy medium between what is too easy and too difficult; they are very brilliant, pleasing to the ear, and natural, without being vapid. There are passages here and there from which connoisseurs alone can derive satisfaction; but these passages are written in such a way that the less learned cannot fail to be pleased, though without knowing why.
We are fortunate to have Mozart's own cadenzas for this concerto. Normally he would improvise them, leaving later performers to supply their own, but in this case, someone -- it is thought perhaps to be his sister -- asked him to supply cadenzas. Accordingly, he wrote them out for each of the three movements on a separate sheet of paper, along with other embellishments for fermatas. It was not until early in the twentieth century that the music on the separate sheet was recognized as belonging to this concerto, but today it is normally heard in performances. It is impossible to know whether Mozart transcribed from memory the cadenzas that he actually performed or whether he composed them later, but either way, we can hear in this concerto unusual samples of his improvisational style at the keyboard.
Boston Baroque Performances
Piano Concerto No. 12 in A Major, K. 414
October 16, 1987
NEC’s Jordan Hall, Boston, MA
Martin Pearlman, fortepiano
July 12, 1987
Castle Hill Festival, Ipswich, MA
Martin Pearlman, fortepiano
January 15, 1987
St. Anselm College, Manchester, NH
Martin Pearlman, fortepiano