Piano Concerto No. 27 in B-Flat Major, K. 595

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s last piano concerto was the B-flat major K. 595. The Concerto, completed in January 1791, broke a nearly three-year concerto dry spell, the longest period without a new piano-orchestra work since he had settled in Vienna. It was performed on 4 March 1791, just one year before his death, in Jahn’s Hall by Mozart himself and the clarinetist Joseph Beer. In three movements, the work is scored for flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns in B-flat, solo piano and strings, which makes it thinner than Mozart's other late concertos, all of which except for No. 23, have trumpet and timpani.
 
Whether he wrote the Concerto for himself, as had been the case with most of the works until then, is not known. What is known is that, beginning in the late 1780s, Mozart’s financial plight had worsened. He was deeply concerned over his wife’s ill health, and was thoroughly depressed. The ultimate indignity, as court composer to Emperor Joseph II, he was little more than a maker of dance ditties. In a letter to his wife at that time, he wrote, “If people could see into my heart, I would almost have to be ashamed…everything is cold for me­—ice cold.” But he not only persisted above his manifold woes. In 1790, he wrote the glittering Così fan tutte, the following year, he created the splendours of Die Zauberflöte, and La clemenza di Tito. Amidst this remarkable productivity came the present Concerto, a composition that has variously been described as weary, troubled, and pervadingly tragic.
 
Cuthbert Girdlestone, a British musicologist,  writes of the Concerto’s “resignation and nostalgia [which] spreads not only a veil of sadness over the whole concerto, [but] also casts on it at times as it were an evening light, announcing the end of a life.” One wonders whether these estimates would be the same had the Concerto not been written in the year of his death, and were it not his final work in a form he alone had developed to such artistic and virtuosic heights. The music is masterfully conceived, concentrated, always unruffled, and deceptively simple. The pleasantly smooth and soft tone of the work conveys a composure and a kind of mature serenity that are amazing considering the composer’s multiple life agonies. The melodies are direct, the passagework limpid and relatively undemanding, in complete contrast to the glitter and brilliance – and superficiality – of the “Coronation” Concerto that preceded it. 
 
The first movement, Allegro, opens gently with a graceful introduction starting with murmuring accompaniment before moving lightly, lyrically, within the string and wind sections, sometimes interrupting one another, and sometimes cooperating together in melodic presentation. Mellowness is implicit in the floating lyricism of the movement. The pianist enters sotto voce with decorated passagework presented calmly and without virtuosity. The development is introduced by the piano, examining the first theme: but ever so gently and persuasively, Mozart takes us through approximately 20 modulations and harmonic diversity via piano and orchestra before arriving at the recapitulation. Such harmonic explorations and deftness forecast new musical horizons.
 
Mozart’s second movement, Larghetto, moves into radiant melancholy, hushed revelations and pristine, operatic miniatures, and the form is tri-partite. Again, the simplicity is deceiving.  The music is profound yet clearly stated.  And in that clarity it also has an ambiguity, as if something was not stated but obviously present—the hidden emotions of maturity and wise reticence.

​The last movement, Allegro, is a rondo which includes two cadenzas in good humour. At this point, the pianist is unleashed into classical-style virtuosity, always controlled, never played with abandon, however stunning and exciting.  Its main theme is friendly, free, happy and endlessly beguiling. Variations unfold in a tumble, with superb imagination, intrigue and excitement. Mozart was not intending to dazzle us, but indeed he does.  Therein lies the concerto’s ineffable, unforgettable brilliance and legacy.
 
Here are four albums:
 
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 25 & 27. Piotr Anderszewski (piano) and Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Release Date: 26 Jan 2018. Label: Warner Classics. Catalogue No: 9029572422. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless 96 kHz, 24 bit).
 
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat major, Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra No. 10 in E flat & Schubert: Fantasie in F minor for Piano Duet. Emil Gilels (piano) with Karl Bohm and Wiener Philharmoniker. Release Date: 10 Ssept 2001. Label: Deutsche Grammophon. Catalogue NO: 4636522. FLAC (CD Quality 44.1 kHz, 16 bit).
 
Mozart: Complete Piano Concertos. Murray Perahia (piano) and English Chamber Orchestra. Release Date: 18 Sept 2006. Label: Sony. Catalogue No: 82876872302. FLAC (CD Quality 44.1 kHz, 16 bit).
 
Mozart: The Piano Concertos, Vol. 4. Alfred Brendel (piano) with Sir Neville Marriner and Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. Release Date: 24 Jan 2006. Label: Philips. Catalogue No: 4757337. FLAC (CD Quality 44.1 kHz, 16 bit).

References:
 Howard, O. (2022). Piano Concerto No. 27, K. 595, Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART. LA Phil.
Tobias, M.W. (2016). CONCERTO NO. 27in B-Flat Major for Piano and Orchestra, K. 595, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.