Tips and Analysis of Mozart's PIano Concerto 23 in A Major (K488) with further help from Lang Lang

Mozart Bust srce: (fotopedia.com)

I was asked my teacher which Piano Concerto in entirety should I learn - one of the suggestions is Mozart's Piano Concerto 23 in A Major K488. Here are some of the resources I found.

Origin of  K488 Piano Concerto in A, Plus Accompanying Sketches by Dennis Pajot. This article analyses the original manuscripts and differences of sketches as well as absence of documented first performances.  Mozart often improvised his cadenzas, so Pajot identifies an unusual written cadenza in the first movement of the autograph copy. Music histoiran, Robert Levin, suggests that the concerto was written for Mozart's favourite pupil, Barbara Ployer.

First Movement analysis by James Greeson of the themes and harmonic (chord) progressions of the exposition, development and recapitulation sections of the sonata form within the concerto. To get a broad overview of this movement read the Asiyclassical blog.

Second Movement - Adagio
Again, Asiyclassical analyses the second movement highlighting points that Adagio not only means slow but 'at ease', and watch out for the controlled disonance, in this movement where Mozart takes you from tension  to release, from 'unstability' to 'stability', an effect which Asiyclassical claims creates movement and emotion. 

Third Movement: Lang Lang's Masterclass - Articulate!
Lang Lang's masterclass on the  3rd movement of the concerto - and how to articulate and get into the character of Mozart! It features a young and talented Anna Larsen who is a beneficiary of Lang Lang's music foundation.

Index Part 2 (above)
00:00 - 01:40 Articulation
01:50 - 04:40 Character
04:50 - End    minor character; climax and swing

Overview of tips on Mozart's style and Piano Concerto's third movement from Lang Lang

• When switching from minor and major don't forget the colour change - Lang Lang describes as clouds (minor) and sunshine (major) .  
• Don't play too fast that you can't articulate the notes
• Feel the swing in some of the passages
• Know where the climax(es) are

Index Part 3

Balakirev's beautiful Chopin's Piano Concerto transcription & Glinka's Lark paraphrase

Balakirev was a Russian composer (1837-1910) who was influenced by Glinka and Chopin. He admired Chopin so much he wrote in many forms that Chopin wrote in, and even transcribed for solo piano a movement from Chopin's Piano Concerto #1 in E minor. Here is the transcription below:

Balakirev: Piano Concerto No 1 in E minor, Op 11: 2nd Movement: Romanza. Larghetto



Here is Balakirev's piano paraphrase of a theme by Glinka "The Lark." It's a truly beautiful piece and is rated as a ATCL (Trinity College of London diploma level) equivalent to the Dip ABRSM level. Performed by the talented Japanese pianist Aya Nagatomi.

Beethoven & Mozart: Alkan's Piano Concerto transcriptions for Solo Piano!

Want to play a piano concerto, but lack the resources of a full orchestra and venue. Now you can perform your very own concerto, transcribed for you, in your own home thanks to the romantic composer Alkan who have transcribed two of the most famous piano concertos into a solo form.

Who was Alkan? French composer and virtuoso pianist Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813-1888), a child prodigy entered the Paris Conservatoire at an astonishing age of 6. He was a contemporary of Liszt and Chopin, and he knew both of these composers personally. Admired by virtuosos of his day such as Busoni, Rubinstein and Liszt. Liszt even once remarked Alkan had the finest piano technique of anyone he knew. He was Chopin's neighbour and many of Chopin's piano students transferred over to Alkan upon his death. Alkan's composition's have also influenced Ravel and Debussy. His Wikipedia biography also notes that it was at first widely believed he died when a bookcase collapsed on him after reaching for the Jewish holy book: Talmud; later corrected that it was an umbrella - coat rack instead.

Beethoven Alkan - Piano Concerto No.3 Op.37. The NorthWest Sinfonietta produced a great programme note about Beethoven's Piano Concerto in C Minor.


Mozart-Alkan Cadenza from the Mozart's Piano Concerto #20 in  D minor.

Boulezian blog of a recent performance:  Mozart Unwrapped (2): Kenneth Hamilton, 'Mozart - Past, Present, Future,' 21 January 2011

Here's Alkan's original work below: the Concerto for Solo Piano Op.39, which wikipedia notes takes an entire hour to play the whole piece!

Pianist Paul Lewis interviewed on the Beethoven Piano Concertos Cycle and his love for the 4th Concerto

Alfred Brendel protege UK pianist Paul Lewis talks on the Guardian newspaper Youtube website about the Beethoven Piano Concertos, with samples of playing from the 4th and 5th concertos. Paul performed the cycle for the BBC Proms in 2010.


Paul Lewis loves the 4th Piano concerto because it's the most unusual; most ellusive, and challenging to play also (collaboratively - as you have to see eye-to-eye); something slightly unobtainable about it that draws him to it.

Paul Lewis talks with Czech conductor Jiří Bělohlávek about the Beethoven Piano Concertos cycle and further about the challenges of the 4th concerto - fragility of performing with an orchestra, minute changes of pulse, balance, and tempo. Paul also talks about the cadenzas within the concertos and what they reveal about the composer. The 5th concerto, surprisingly has no cadenza for instance! (perhaps because the piano has such a prominent role - i.e. the opening)