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Re: Martin Frost, Mozart

Author: Tony Pay ★2017
Date: 2008-08-08 12:50

mrn wrote:

>> This sounds like a question for Tony Pay. I hope he's reading this, because I'd really like to know what he thinks about what the tempi in the Mozart Concerto ought to be and why. I seem to remember reading something in one of his past posts about how certain runs in Mozart are easier to play tongued on period instruments because of cross-fingerings (but, of course, this potentially limits the speed you can play to the speed you can tongue). >>

I don't think you can make any deductions about speed from articulation considerations. I can produce a variety of staccato on period instruments at significantly higher speeds than I can on modern instruments, but that's just me; Robert Spring shows that you can't generalise in these matters. And remember, Mozart had a great virtuoso as his dedicatee.

I'd say that the Mozart concerto works well only at a speed at which you can show clearly the structures within it. So, for me, you need to choose a speed at which bars in the first movement can be 'in' one, two or four, comfortably.

Beyond that, you have an overall choice of mood. It's possible to produce a light, sunny performance; but equally, you can choose to emphasise the darker side of the piece. I wouldn't want to say that either of these is more valid than the other.

Tempo comes into that; but it doesn't DETERMINE it.

And of course, as has often been pointed out, a tempo that works well in one acoustic can be much too fast -- or too slow -- in another.

Tony

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William

2008-08-07 15:16