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Works for the piano abound in Mozart's catalogue and apart from the series of piano
concertos and sonatas, the instrument was used by Mozart in many of his ensemble
chamber pieces. There are piano trios, quartets and a quintet for the extraordinary
combination of piano and winds rather then the more usual setting of the soloist
against a group of string players. The combination is however not unique to Mozart
and Beethoven was to use the same plan for his own Opus 16 Quintet .
The Piano Quintet dates from 1784 when Mozart's relationship with Stadler had been
cemented by their joint Masonic interests and during the period when he was writing
a series of remarkable Piano Concerti including the G major work written for
Barbara Ployer and the ones in B flat written for Maria Theresa Paradis (K456) and
the F major (K459) work composed with himself in mind. It is thus clear that this
was a period when Mozart was concentrating on the keyboard works that remain one
of his greatest contributions to the repertoire. It would be easy to see the Quintet in
this respect as a chamber concerto for the instrument (as indeed some of the earlier
concerti exist in such chamber forms) but the scoring is still somewhat unusual as
opposed to say the Piano Quartets which can easily be considered as miniatures in
the concertante vein. It is indeed that combination of solo piano against an
accompaniment of oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon that sets this work apart.Mozart
was fond enough of these separate instruments to have composed individual concerti
for each of them but here they are gathered together as an ensemble where each is
given its own prominence and none outweighs the other in importance.
The work is in three movements and begins with an opening, like those of Haydn's
symphonies which brings an Allegro out of an initial slow introduction. This opening
Largo is in the grand style and gives way to a rather pastoral Allegro moderato before
the second movement Larghetto with its simple beginning and strange modulation
before its recapitulation. Finally a Rondo in Allegretto time winds up the piece with a
joyous main theme and its own cadenza. Comparisons are perhaps odious and
Beethoven, although he imitated the work never really managed to surpass what
Mozart considered to be one of his finest works to date.
Before embarking on the two great masterpieces for Piano Trio with violin and cello
(K502 and K542), Mozart wrote another Trio with Piano, this time for a different
combination including clarinet and viola. The work was not only a preparation for
those later works but was also published in that differing instrumentation by the
publishing house of Artaria as a trio for "clavicembalo o Fortepiano con
accompagnamneto d'un violino e viola . . si puo eseguire anche con un clarinetto (. . .
. in other words "can be played also by clarinet"). The work was originally conceived
as a showpiece for Francisca Jacquin who would have taken the original piano part
with Mozart playing the viola and his great freemason friend Anton Stadler on the
clarinet. It was, of course Stadler who was to inspire Mozart to write his two final
great masterpieces for clarinet - the Concerto (K622) and the Quintet (K581).
The opening Andante emphasises the key of E flat major which for Mozart was a key
relating to friendship although on occasion this moves into dominant and
subdominant as well as C minor. The Minuet which follows shows Mozart's grasp of
counterpoint without ever falling into the trap of merely sounding academic whereas
the final Rondeau is of songlike character mixing counterpoint, form and melody
towards a totally satisfying conclusion.
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