
Feel free to enjoy! Life with concerts
File 9 Mozart
Saburo Morimitsu ( music writer)
At the end of each year, I look around every corner of the concert information and look for a concert that I can listen to Mozart at the beginning of the year.
Speaking of classical music fans, the royal road is to see the ballet "Nutcracker" at Christmas and listen to Beethoven's "9th" at the end of the year. On New Year's Day, I'm feeling tipsy and watching the "Vienna Philharmonic New Year's Concert" on TV.
But in my case it's Mozart for some reason.
There is a simple reason that I want to be healed by the light and refreshing Mozart rather than heavy music at the beginning of the year. There is also a healthy meaning of "Let's go."
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Born in Salzburg, Austria in 1756, he died in Vienna at the age of 35. Over 600 works ranging from operas to instrumental music and religious music. There is also an anecdote that he was composing a different song in his head while writing notes on the score.
Needless to say, the song is absolutely beautiful.
And that personality is unbridled.
He likes to make jokes that are "not very elegant", and in his later years, his income decreased and his wasteful habit overlapped, and he even wrote letters asking for debt. By the way, it seems that he also left a letter with a series of "not very elegant words".
"Why did God give such a popular man such a special talent?"
If you watch the play/movie "Amadeus", which depicts the jealousy and conflict of Salieri, the Viennese court musician who was deeply religious, you can understand Mozart's life well and laugh, even if it is a little exaggerated. Or rather, I'm a little surprised.
The masterpiece "Amadeus" is, of course, fiction, but at the time it was true that the rumor that Salieri had poisoned Mozart was true, and that rumor haunted him until his death.
Poor Salieri. Just realized the "truth of music"!
*Antonio Salieri (1750-1825)
"Genius" Mozart.
It's hard to put the music into words.
Mozart was said to "compose as if he were breathing."
The configuration is very simple. It is almost in line with the grammar that is now called "classicism" established by senior Haydn and others, and the desire for innovation and the difficulty of self-expression that Beethoven aimed for are not felt much. In fact, it is said that there are almost no traces of rewriting in the score.
Soft, refreshing, and incredibly beautiful music.
That's more than enough, but...
For example, the second movement of the Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major.
A quiet and melancholy piano solo is followed by an orchestral ensemble that can be heard from somewhere far away. The piano that is played right after that is an indescribable and mysterious melody.
When I was feeling uneasy about something, this time, a somewhat cheerful phrase and the melody at the beginning repeated.
"Music is a temporal art." But when I listen to this song, I feel the exact opposite. In other words, it seems that Mozart uses seven minutes to draw a moment.
Various murmurs such as anxiety and faint hope that come and go in an instant.
Mozart does not give us a starting point. *Recommended CD containing Mozart Piano Concertos Nos. 23 & 26. Gulda (piano) & Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Harnoncourt)
For example, the opera Don Giovanni.
The “victims” hunt down the womanizer and murderer Giovanni. It's strange to think that they actually love and love the main character who they hate and want to kill.
There is a saying that is often said about piano music.
"Mozart too easy for children, too difficult for adults"
There is nothing difficult to improve a child's technique, but because of its simplicity, the innocent Mozart will be ruined if an adult's evil intentions are added.
In fact, I have come across such performances many times.
I have a CD here. A violin sonata composed by Mozart when he was ten years old, given the opus number K30. Great performance by Podger and Cooper. The "Adagio" movement, a beautiful work with an impressive violin singing generously. There are no "tricks" that a mature Mozart would use as an inspiration, but what is the philosophical sadness behind it? It's never negative, it's like gently enveloping.
Mozart, an innocent boy who is said to have told Marie Antoinette, who was 7 years old at the time, that he would marry her when she grows up, created this kind of music. No, should I say that someone made me make it?
Ah, the "natural talent" that Salieri was jealous of.
Mozart's music has a "demonish" terror.
It's an expression often used by music connoisseurs. * Six-year-old Mozart in full dress
Listeners are usually unaware of the emotions that lie dormant in their hearts, the truths that they don't want to realize yet. Let me glimpse such a troublesome thing, let me touch it roughly, and make me feel beautiful and dreamy with an ignorant face.
Some mysterious person who makes such music made. That's scary.
Is it something far away or is it ourselves?
so.
There are two Mozart concerts that we recommend at the beginning of the year.
"New Year's Concert" at Philia Hall on Saturday, January 11th.
Three piano concertos performed by the virtuoso Yukio Yokoyama with members of the NHK Symphony Orchestra.
Number 23 above is also played.
Even so, it's amazing to have 3 songs with only Mozart.

This event has ended.
《New Year Concert “Mozart Feast”》
[Date and time] January 11, 2020 (Sat) 15:00 start
[Venue] Philia Hall Yokohama City Aoba Citizens Cultural Center
[Appearance] Piano: Yukio Yokoyama, Orchestra: Chamber Orchestra by members of the NHK Symphony Orchestra (Concert Master: Hiroyuki Yamaguchi)
[Price] S 7,500 yen, A 6,500 yen
* Click here for details
And "Mozart Matinee" at Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall.
This is Saturday, January 18th.
One of Japan's most proud musicians, the violinist Shunsuke Sato plays the music of his youth.
It is a good project that you can also listen to the works of CPE Bach, the second son of the great Bach, who was influenced by Mozart.
© Yat Ho Tsang
This event has ended.
《Mozart Matinee No. 39 》
[Date and time] Saturday, January 18, 2020 11:00 start
[Venue] Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall
[Appearance] Violin: Shunsuke Sato (playing), Orchestra: Tokyo Symphony Orchestra
[Price] General 3,500 yen, U25 (elementary school students to 25 years old) 1,000 yen, Tomonokai 3,150 yen
* Click here for details
Isn't it scary if everyone listens!?
Let's enjoy Mozart!