Mozart's supremacy as a composer is nowhere more apparent than in his piano concertos, which were a lifelong preoccupation for him from 1767, when he was 11 years old, until 1791, the year of his death. The remarkably precocious works in this volume, written in 1776 and 1777, foreshadow the even greater piano concertos to come. Each exhibits the qualities for which their successors are justly celebrated: keyboard mastery, experimentation with texture, and a natural sensitivity to form and balance. Despite his youth, Mozart captured the spirit of his times with these compositions, reflecting an eighteenth-century mood of elegance and refinement.
This volume includes the Triple Concerto No. 7 in F (K.242), Mozart's only concerto for three pianos, with the composer's cadenzas for all three movements. Also here are the Concerto No. 8 in C (K.246) and Concerto No. 9 in E-flat (K.271), offering a contrast in moods — the former, in the lighthearted, refined galant spirit; the latter, a work of dramatic, emotional character. The concluding music in this prized compilation is the world-famous Double Concerto No. 10 in E-flat (K.365), written for the composer himself and his sister Nannerl.
Pianists and all lovers of fine music will welcome this valuable compilation of seminal works, reproduced complete and unabridged from the authoritative Breitkopf & Härtel Complete Works edition. Included as well, as appendixes, are Mozart's original cadenzas for Concerto No. 9 and reproductions of the rare autograph sketches of cadenzas for the Double Concerto.