I'm having a great time reading the debate over Mozart and Haydn, but I
just wanted to throw in my two cents on slow movements in Mozart concerti.

Nick Perovich wrote: (about the piano concerti)

>...  I find the slow movements (and not just the slow movements) of many
>of them extremely affecting.  If I were to pick a favorite, it would be the
>slow movement in f sharp minor from the A major piano concerto, K.  488.

If you love that one -- and I imagine there are more of you out there
who do!  --, you have to check out the slow movement from the Bb major
concerto, K.  456.  Although K.  456 is certainly one of the lesser-known
of the piano concerti, it is, nonetheless, a great piece of music.  The
g minor slow movement -- a theme and variations -- is filled with such
bittersweet sadness that it almost overwhelmed me the first time I heard
it.  The sunshine that brightens the landscape in the one variation in
major is so surprising and yet delightful that the return to minor is not
shocking, but Mozart's glances back to the major variation at the end of
the movement still tug at my heart.

Enjoy!

Jeff Grossman
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