An all-encompassing world of pure and universal beauty, angelic elegance, passionate lyricism and ingenious architecture: Mozart's music is a gift from heaven. Seductive and generous and yet pure and innocent, it is an inexhaustible source of inspiration and musical joy. How can we reach the essence of Mozart's creative genius and the subtlety of his art? How do we, humbly yet ambitiously, gain an insight into the rich profusion of his masterpieces?
Keyboard instruments have always been used by composers to shape their musical language: from Bach to Dutilleux or Ligeti, via Beethoven, Schumann or Bartok, a keyboard has always played an important role in the creative process. There are also a great number of historical references that reveal the importance of the piano reduction in making new works available to music-lovers of the time, as many symphonic masterpieces were first heard in reduced versions in private homes before being performed in the great concert halls. Stripped of orchestral frills and reduced to its essence, the music may perhaps have even gained in expressive power, as the homogeneous sound of the piano often makes a dissonance seem stronger than when it is played by two different instruments, who may well be metres apart as well. Thanks to the piano's precise touch, every rhythmic detail is refined and clear. Think for a moment of the initially more attractive hues of a colour photograph, and then compare it to the austere power and clearly delineated shapes and textures of a black-and-white photograph.
We decided to approach Mozart and his oeuvre from this angle in an attempt not only to get to the heart of his music and to highlight its modernity, but also to share our great enthusiasm for the reductions for two pianos with you. Our programme includes works from three of the musical forms in which Mozart excelled: opera, the symphony, and the sonata.
