MOZART PIANO CONCERTO 17 K. 453 (How to characterise it & how Mitsuko Uchida missed the point!)

RECOMMEDED RECORDINGS: (1) Mozart: Piano Concerto No.17 in G, K.453 - 2. Andante · Alfred Brendel · Scottish Chamber Orchestra · Sir Charles Mackerras (2004) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX2TpoZfvYg (2) Edwin Fischer, Edwin Fischer Chamber Orchestra, Studio recording, Berlin, 7.V.1937 https://youtu.be/HkUTuXcLEPc?t=635 This is my first video about characterisation - and it won't be the last! To characterise is to express the psychology the composer has put into the piece. Alfred Brendel has been talking about this in public for approximately 60 years. Still, not everybody gets it. Most performers, musicologists and critics still struggle with the concept. Mitsuko Uchida does not struggle with the concept at all. She is therefore an unlucky victim of this video. I recently heard her play Mozart Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major K. 453 at the Royal Festival Hall - with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. I felt the Andante middle movement was mischaracterised - as it was mischaracterised by Mitsuko Uchida on record. This video tries to capture which two character states Mozart asks for in the Andante - of the two, Uchida only gives one. I say, sorry, but that is not OK! I recommend two recordings which capture the character of the piece. One is the reading by Edwin Fischer with the Edwin Fischer Chamber Orchestra in 1937. The other is a reading by Alfred Brendel with Charles Mackerras and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra from 2004. *** The Vlad Vexler Show offers a guide to surviving and making sense of the 21st century - for reflective people who feel the present resources for making sense of our world are inadequate. On my show I make sense of classical music, politics (populism, the wobbling of our democracies, climate breakdown), ethics (our ethical ), and wine (the most aesthetically complex liquid we can imbibe). One way to think about my content is as a high quality article in the New York Review of Books, delivered in convenient film or audio form. I really appreciate your attention, and patience, as I innovate and grow my platform. Professionally, I am a philosopher working in ethics and musicology. Some current projects include 1. What it means for philosophers to be funny. 2. Isaiah Berlin’s political ideas. 3. Nietzsche’s moral psychology. 4. Laughter in absolute music. I am currently writing a book about Isaiah Berlin. I coach artists and arts organisations, working with them to take their creative process to the next level and working to overcome creative blocks. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vladvexler/ Podcast: coming up! Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vlad-vexler/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/VladVexler Subscribe to my email list on my website: www.vladvexler.com *** this video contains the following words and topics - mozart concerto 17 g major uchida mozart mitsuko uchida mozart Alfred Brendel Mozart Alfred Brendel Mozart Concerto 17 453 Alfred Brendel Mozart Concerto No. 17 K. 453 Brendel Mackerras Alfred Brendel Charles Mackerras Mitsuko Uchida Mahler Chamber Orchestra Mozart concerto 17 453 characterisation in classical music characterising in classical music