Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Mozart Momentum – 1786

Leif Ove Andsnes and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra follow up their award-winning “Mozart Momentum 1785” with a partner album that programmatically focuses on the intensity of creativity in 1786, unusual even for this composer. “When one realizes how quickly Mozart developed in the early years of the 1780s, the question arises: why did this happen? What was going on? It’s about the momentum of his creativity at that time,” says Leif Ove Andsnes.

in 1786, creative inspiration in the composition of his opera “Le nozze di Figaro” also affected his piano concertos and chamber music. Suddenly Mozart’s music was filled with a new kind of conversational spirit, deeper layers of meaning, and a wider exploration of instrumental character. Thus he wrote works beyond the public’s taste, composing for his own fulfillment.

“Mozart Momentum 1786” includes Piano Concertos No. 23 in A major K. 488 and No. 24 in C minor K. 491, the Piano Quartet in E-flat major K. 493, the Piano Trio in B-flat major K. 502, and the concert aria “Ch’io mi scordi di te?” KV 505 with the soprano Christiane Karg.

For this recording, Leif Ove Andsnes has again teamed up with the musicians of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. “There is an attitude in the Mahler Chamber Orchestra,” says the pianist, “that you are not there just to play well, but to find the truth in the music. That is something very special that I have never experienced with any other orchestra.” The Mozart Momentum project makes no distinction between musical forms – orchestral works, chamber music or even vocal – but all pieces are connected through the piano. “The idea,” Andsnes says, “was to explore the diversity of what was going on in Mozart’s creative life at the time – to show that a division between solo, chamber music and concerto is not really relevant.”