Mozart completed his Concerto No. 21 only a month after his previous concerto. He would write four more in the next 21 months. Because Mozart wrote them for his own concert performances in Vienna, he did not write down the solo cadenzas that he improvised during performance, and, as a result, modern concert pianists have had to either create their own cadenzas or use those created by others.
The Piano Concerto No. 21 is among the most technically demanding of all Mozart’s concerti. The composer’s own father, Leopold Mozart, described it as “astonishingly difficult.” The difficulty lies less in the intricacy of the notes on the page than in playing those many notes smoothly and elegantly. Mozart made the challenge look easy, as newspapers of his time attest, though his letters reveal the hard work behind those performances.
The piece’s first movement, “Allegro maestoso,” is an exuberant, extroverted lead-in to an internal, quietly satisfying second movement, “Andante.” The third movement, “Allegro vivace assai,” reveals Mozart at his high-spirited, irrepressible best.
Here is pianist Yeol Eum Son to demonstrate this music for you:
