Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Concerto for two Pianos and Orchestra in E flat major, K. 365

In January 1779, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart returned to his hometown of Salzburg after a sixteen-month journey across Europe. He had pinned great expectations on this ambitious undertaking, above all the hope of securing a well-paid position at a prestigious court. Yet, in his early twenties, Mozart experienced firsthand that his former fame as a child prodigy had long faded. He was no longer remembered, nor needed. And then, in July 1778, his mother – who had accompanied him from Augsburg to Munich and Mannheim and finally to Paris – also passed away. Mozart had to travel home alone and return to serving Salzburg’s Prince-Archbishop, this time as court organist.

And yet, not all was in vain. On his travels, Mozart encountered much that was new: he heard clarinets, which were lacking in Salzburg, enjoyed the company of renowned colleagues, and fell in love with the young singer Aloysia Weber. In the French capital, he had the opportunity to collaborate with the most famous orchestra in Europe, the Concert Spirituel, for which he composed his Paris Symphony. He also became acquainted with the latest fashionable genres – concertante symphonies and concertos for multiple instruments. He immediately took up these genres on his return to Salzburg, writing the Sinfonia concertante for violin and viola and the Concerto for Two Pianos, both in E flat major.

If the disappointment of the journey still weighed on Mozart – one would never guess it from a single bar of the Concerto for Two Pianos. It is a work dedicated to brilliance and splendour, with two highly virtuosic solo parts that make no concessions to each other. Mozart wrote them for his sister Maria Anna, known as Nannerl, who was five years his senior, and for himself. Their execution demands an almost blind mutual understanding, for even the rapid passages are often played in synchrony on both pianos, or alternate so seamlessly that it is as if they were performed by a single person. The Mozart siblings enjoyed the necessary affinity with each other and were both formidable masters of the keyboard.

Much in this concerto was compositional innovation. For instance, the woodwinds engage in dialogue with the piano parts, their motifs interwoven into the fabric of the music. Or the bassoon part, which now attains its own significance rather than merely supporting the string basses. Following the exuberantly inventive opening movement, the Andante provides a paragon of musical sensitivity. The final rondo, meanwhile, makes for an exuberant send-off, brimming with good cheer: all worries seem far away. Mozart was proud of this concerto. When he moved to Vienna, he had the score sent to him in 1781 so that he could perform it there with his pupil Josepha Barbara Auernhammer. On that occasion, he expanded the orchestration to include clarinets, trumpets, and timpani, making for an even more splendid overall sound. And it is in this version that the concerto is now performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker.