Mozart Piano Concerto No. 9 & 12
Elizabeth Sombart Piano

With his 9th piano concerto, composed in 1777, Mozart entered a new world. The traditional long orchestral introduction is dispensed with, and the soloist enters after the second bar. Nothing as audacious as this would happen in a concerto until Beethoven’s 4th, where the soloist starts the work.

The 9th is a large-scale concerto running to over 30 minutes. By contrast, the group of three concertos composed in 1782 are less demanding, for both soloist and the listener. All three, numbers 11-13, can be performed without the wind instruments, making them ideal for domestic music making with a piano and string quartet. On this album, Elizabeth Sombart performs No.12 which may have had an alternative finale, the Rondo in A K386.