Piano Concerto No. 27 in B‑Flat Major

The circumstances around Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 27 are still unclear. Its first hearing, in Vienna, may have been by the composer in March 1791 or by his pupil Barbara Ployer two months earlier, while the piece itself may have been written as much as two years before. What is undeniable is its inward character—there are no clarinets, trumpets, or timpani in the orchestral score. As is clear at the start of the initial “Allegro”, its introduction sets the tone for a movement whose exchanges between soloist and orchestra are almost entirely without the flamboyance of earlier concertos. Mozart’s cadenzas here and for the finale both survive, their elegance and lack of showiness fully in keeping with this work overall. Such qualities are even more explicit in the “Larghetto”, its gentleness and lucidity only partly offsetting a wistful sadness that comes to the fore in the plaintive middle section. The final “Allegro” features a lilting melody with more than a hint of folk dance. Its rhythm underpins much of what follows, not least a developmental episode that brings with it the most ambivalent music, then a coda recalling the main theme before it rounds off the work with calm assurance.