Something for Thursday

Two days ago marked the 270th anniversary of the birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart was one of those miraculous artists whose talent eclipsed the perceived limits of human ability. Mozart produced work of effortless profundity, in perfect proportion, in all genres and for nearly every instrument that existed in his time. Not one musical form was not elevated by his having touched it. Mozart stands among the very greatest artists in all of human history…and to think, his life nearly overlapped that of JS Bach and did overlap that of Ludwig van Beethoven.

Were I forced to name one favorite work by Mozart, I suspect I would name this one more often than any other. The Sinfonia concertante for violin, viola, and orchestra, K. 364, never fails to amaze me with its elegance and its natural lyricism. Nothing in it ever sounds out of place; every single note seems the natural and necessary logical result of the one before. A sinfonia concertante is something of a mix between a symphony and a concerto, an odd genre that really only flowered briefly during the Classical period. This one is probably the grandest exemplar of this under-utilized form. Just listen to the way the soloists exchange phrases back and forth, like they are in conversation! And just listen to how the orchestra, limited to strings, two oboes, and two horns, sounds much larger than it actually is. I could go on…but I won’t.

Here is the Sinfonia concertante for violin, viola, and orchestra, K. 364, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.