#k488

Christoph Eschenbach and the London Philharmonic Orchestra — Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in A K488: II. Adagio

This is the piece that made me finally ‘get’ Mozart. It wasn’t until I heard a recording of this on period instruments, like this one (might have been this one) that I understood what he was doing and why I didn’t like it before. All the flute and piano parts used to sound very cold and lonely to me, like there wasn’t enough backing them up. Once I heard this I realised what had been missing...he was writing for instruments made of wood, not metal, and the timbral quality of them was totally different, like the difference between a wooden snare drum or a metal one. No more metallic overtones at loud dynamics, and a brightness in the high midrange that would be lacking from a steel-framed pianoforte. It goes to show how important timbre and the sonic qualities of the instruments are in getting a piece of music across effectively to an audience, even in classical music.