Piano Concerto No. 18 in B-Flat Major

Mozart composed six piano concertos during the extraordinarily productive year of 1784, all conceived with his own performances in mind, although some were given their premieres by musicians Mozart admired. During the spring and summer, his pupil Barbara Ployer performed Nos. 14 and 17, and that September he completed Concerto No. 18, possibly for the blind Austrian pianist Maria Theresia von Paradis, who was renowned throughout Europe as a touring virtuoso. Piano Concerto No. 18 opens with a crisp military fanfare and goes on to involve the piano in dramatic dialogue with the orchestra—most notably the woodwinds, as had become characteristic of Mozart’s mature concerto style. The central “Andante un poco sostenuto” drops into a dark minor key for a set of variations on a poignant theme. The finale then opens with a happy-go-lucky jig-like tune, which maintains an optimistic outlook until an uneasy central section returns to minor tonalities, complete with flashing piano arpeggios and grumpy bassoon commentaries. The high spirits of the opening are soon recalled, though, and bring the work to a cheerful conclusion.