TUESDAY, February 11, 2020
Concerto No. 21 in C major, age 29…
This concerto is so famous that it is likely that almost everyone has heard it without knowing what it is. I would say that most likely this is by far his most famous concerto, and to be honest I don’t recall a time when I did not know it.
Elvira Madigan…
I have never seen this film and frankly have zero interest in every seeing it. It is from 1967, and I was only 18 years old most of that year, in a music school working very hard and most of the time without even access to a TV. But I may have been caught up in the hype without knowing it, because this concerto was hugely important to the movie and has since been linked to the movie name. So I know this nickname without a clue as to what the film is about.
Again, because so many people have asked me for videos in which there is something to be seen, I have picked a video. I will mention again that I prefer to just listen because I already know how these people move and create the music, and I just want to hear it, but Perahia is an exceptionally musical performer and was quite close to Horowitz, so there is a valuable connection. There are mistakes, small ones, which would never happen in a studio recording, but I don’t mind them at all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgXC0RjTB8U
The same performer in a studio recording…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvira_Madigan_(1967_film)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZJjL1sTBp0
I thought I had not heard it before, then thought there seems to be something “Mozartish” about Mozart pieces making them all familiar. Then one theme popped up and yes, I’ve heard it.