Mozart: Andante and Variations in G major | Martha Argerich & Stephen Kovacevich (piano four hands)

Piano four hands: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart‘s Andante and Variations in G major, K. 501, played by star pianists Martha Argerich and Stephen Kovacevich at the Verbier Festival 2008.

(00:00) Coming on stage
(00:21) Theme
(01:30) Variation 1
(02:32) Variation 2
(03:28) Variation 3
(04:20) Variation 4
(05:40) Variation 5

For a long time, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791) was regarded as the first person ever to write piano works for four hands and perform them in public. Whether this is true is now a matter of debate. What is established, however, is that Mozart was one of the pioneers of piano for four hands. Already as a child, he and his sister Maria Anna (“Nannerl”), who was five years older, performed together on the piano - playing his own compositions.

Mozart composed the Andante and five variations in G major on November 4, 1786 in Vienna and had it published in the same year. Mozart had initially drafted a version for two keyboard instruments, but then turned it into a piano piece for four hands. The German-American Mozart expert and musicologist Alfred Einstein is said to have commented on the Piano Variations K. 501 that they were full of charm and tonal appeal and had a captivating effect.

Mozart skillfully sets a graceful theme consisting of two contrasting parts. The first part radiates cheerfulness, while the second part is more somber. The juxtaposition is the source of the delightful piano piece's colorful variety. In variations 1-3, the cheerful basic tone increases in tempo, rhythm and ornamentation. This makes variation 4 stand out all the more. The fact that the 4th variation is in a minor key can still be understood conventionally. However, Mozart also uses chromaticism and remote keys here. These “harmonic detours” make the 4th variation seem like a kind of deviation - interesting, but also disconcerting. This makes the contrast to the 5th variation even more striking: with its fanfare motif, it comes across as radiant and triumphant, like a celebration of the victory over the apparent dislocation of the previous variation. The coda concludes the series of variations with the cheerful opening theme (06:43).

Fun fact: In the German Medical Journal, Mozart's Andante and Variations in G major, K. 501 was attested to have positive effects on cardiovascular diseases.

© 2008 Idéale Audience

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