birthday falls on Saturday, 27th of January. The Goethe Institute is celebrating with a special concert at 7.0 pm that evening, performed by Rusiko Kiknadze, professor of violin at the Tbilisi Conservatoire, and me (Mark Lowe) on the piano.
For many people, Mozart is different and special-a genius beyond compare. Although his music was written over 200 years ago, for many of us it has unique power, depth and beauty-as well as being supremely lovable.
disagree.
My otherwise admirable music teacher at school used to say: don't bother with Mozart: this music is tinkly. It is not great to a colleague here in Tbilisi. He would return them, saying: what do you see in this stuff?
It is pretty but superficial. There's nothing Haydn to Mozart, because Haydn was full of surprises, while Mozart was too perfect. Not everyone finds a unique genius in Mozart.
do people like me find so special in Mozart's music? Lots of things . Think of that opening chord of Don Giovanni, used to such powerful effect doom-laden; it is demonic.
Think of the first and last movements of the Jupiter Symphony: they have a unique fierce energy, focused like a super-intelligent laser beam. Then there is the contemplative Mozart the 'Elvira Madigan' piano concerto. There is also suffering Mozart, was not the eternal child that 'Amadeus' would have us think he was, he was a very mature man who had suffered and overcome suffering.
There is witty Mozart too, the man who wrote The Marriage of Figaro and Papageno's music in The Magic Flute. Then there is the man who adored and deeply understood women, the man who wrote those arias for his truer-than-real-life the Night. There is the brilliant dramatist too, whose operas tingle with intrigue and sex, human conflict and human forgiveness.
And finally there is the man who composed wonderful tunes and lovely sounds, as in the violin sonatas. And these are just some of the miracles that we find in Mozart's music.
play two Mozart violin sonatas.
The early sonata in E minor, K 304, is in only two movements, but it contains one of Mozart's most heart-stopping inspirations in the second movement trio. The late sonata in B flat major, K 454, is on an altogether larger scale. It opens with an imposing gives way to a bustling Allegro, like a scene from Figaro, full of wit and drama.
The slow movement is an idyllic love song, while the finale returns to the brilliant world of Figaro. These two sonatas encapsulate many of the qualities that make Mozart special, and as Rusiko and I have worked on them in recent weeks and months, we have grown to love them both most dearly. We shall also play two works by Beethoven and Schubert - to put Mozart's music in context, and to provide contrast.
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