GG: Mozart's 24th Piano Concerto

["Baldwin, Daniel" <baldwin@baermarks.com>]

        Hello  f_minors.

        I recently acquired GG's recording of Mozart's 24th piano concerto ,
with Walter Susskind conducting the CBC orchestra. I think it's a gripping,
emotionally charged performance, with GG fully committed and not taking his
(usual) ironic, detached stance towards Mozart.  Plus, his chrystalline
articulation and bell-like tone serve the music perfectly. However, there is
one controversial element of the performance -- GG interpolates a left-hand
line at certain points when the score calls only for a right-hand passage.
In fact, he accentuates some of these left-hand "inventions" more than the
right-hand line. In the liner notes, GG is quoted as saying that the
additions are appropriate because (according to GG) Mozart is known to have
skimped on some left-handed accompaniment in the score, and to have filled
in these "gaps" by improvisation in performance. GG likens it to a
continuo-type function. After repeated listenings, I have gotten used to
these interpolations and they actually heighten the drama (particularly when
GG uses them at points where a solo piano passage is segue - ing into an
orchestral passage). But -- whether they sound good or not -- does GG's
justification for their inclusion actually conform to historical performance
practice, or is this just another instance of his eccentricity running amok?



Daniel Baldwin
BAER MARKS & UPHAM LLP
805 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10022
Tel: (212) 702-5700
Fax: (212) 702-5941
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