I & II - 1st movement (Allegro) / III - 2nd movement (Romanze) / IV - 3rd movement (Allegro assai ) / Piano - Ivan Klánský / Conductor - Virtuosi Di Praga, Jiri Belohlavek
Home
Related:
Piano Concerto No. 20 (Mozart)
The Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1785. The first performance took place at the Mehlgrube Casino in Vienna on February 11, 1785, with the composer as the soloist.
Background
A few days after the first performance, the composer's father, Leopold, visiting in Vienna, wrote to his daughter Nannerl about her brother's recent success: "[I heard] an excellent new piano concerto by Wolfgang, on which the copyist was still at work when we got there, and your brother didn't even have time to play through the rondo because he had to oversee the copying operation."
It is written in the key of D minor. Other works by the composer in that key include the Fantasia K. 397 for piano, Requiem, a Kyrie, and parts of the dark opera Don Giovanni. It is the first of two concertos written in a minor key (No. 24 being the other).
The young Ludwig van Beethoven admired this concerto and kept it in his repertoire. Famed conductor Daniel Barenboim contends that this concerto was Joseph Stalin's favorite piece of music. Cadenzas for this popular concerto written by famous composers include Beethoven (WoO 58), Johannes Brahms (WoO 16), Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Feruccio Busoni and Clara Schumann.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Piano Concerto No. 20 (Mozart).
