Max Derrickson

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart     (b. January 27, 1756 in Salzburg; d. December 5, 1791 inVienna)

Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466
1. Allegro
2. Romanze
3. Rondo (Allegro assai)

Mozart penned his first piano concerto in a minor-key, No. 20 in D-minor (1785), and the results were astonishing.  From its opening pulsing, dark chords, Mozart begins the journey that many contend may be the path-breaker into the Romantic era.  Beethoven himself loved this piano concerto above all others by Mozart.
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Though the finale wraps the concerto up in a major key, it is the intensity and urgency of this piece that leave their most indelible mark, leaving us to ponder things of a less cheery nature than we’re accustomed with the composer.