A half-hour of perfection. Here, on the table in front of me. The language Mozart employs is so subtle, what he has to say is so winning, the use of chromaticism timely and telling. Going through it, I observe the following in the first movement, just a sample of its riches:
There is no articulation on the opening quarter notes. It is a given that they are short. I would inflect the chromatic 1/2 step rise in the bass line (bars 3 and 5) with a little dynamic nudge.
b. 8 - short quarters on the downbeat in 2nds, va, and bass line; bring out eighth note scale in va.
b. 12 - crescendo into f, or subito f in 13?
b. 13 - are both quarters of the octave f? Or is the lower octave played less loud?
b. 23 - no accent on downbeat (strings tend to slug the last note of the 16th-note passage like this)
In general, downbeat quarter note chords in winds I execute as 8ths.
b. 27-8 - cresc or no? Great rising bass line! Casals said, when the music goes up, we get louder. Does this approach still apply in 2010? Note parallel passage at b. 133-4.
b. 33 on - do you go to the 2nd bar of the phrase, or is the 1st bar the strong one?
b. 38, 40 - love the viola echo!
b. 44 - brush, short, long?
b. 51 - note the low B in 1sts, unison w. cello; a tremendous gesture, a little vorspeise of Haffner...
b. 58 - pick up the viola on the 4th quarter after the fp in the other strings, great!
b. 61 - echo?
b. 79 - note that the motive for development is not the opening motive (which is atypical of Mozart as a "tune", but the transitional scale passage from b. 9.
b. 89 - inflect/articulate after the downbeat, please.
b. 90 - dim. into p, or subito?
b. 92 - the upbeats in this passage should be short and separated. In my experience, violins need to pay attention (to the part, not to me/you!) to execute this precisely
b. 99 - brief dominant stretto into the recapitulation - crescendo into 103?
b. 107 to 132 - exact repeat. Isn't score study easy?
b. 133-4 - I love how he manipulates the bass line here, simple and to the point. First he descends (contrary to the rising line in the exposition, then the sudden turn upward. I'd probably bring this out.
b. 135-7 - Appreciate the dovetailing between the 2nds and 1sts (same in expo)
From here until the coda, the writing is virtually identical to the expo, albeit in the tonic now. The disposition of the wind chords starting at b. 151 is different, but (in my view) not structurally crucial.
b. 163-4 - Now this should be compared against 57-8.
b. 176 - While the unison violin writing matches the expo, the 2nds are (for Mozart) unusually high. For reference, how often to they rise above the staff in the rest of the symphony? Never. In fact, in the 4th movement, b. 155 and on, he won't even let the 2nds take the high C-sharp (which would have been in line with the parallel passage at b. 52). Am SO TEMPTED to let the 2nds play this up...
b. 189 forward - Follow the canon through 1sts, bass line, horns and violas. Will make a great effect.
b. 195-6 The last gasp of chromaticism in this movement. Ride the subsequent descending parallel 6 chords to glory! Don't forget that the 8ths from b. 201 are structural; this is a little bit of a surprise, as their function changed from the start of the movement, from transitional passagework to the building block of the development and now to the meat of the coda. I'd give shape to all of the rising 4-note scales.
b. 205-6 - Please execute this last two bars with care. No diminuendo, but no accent on the last downbeat either.
This is just a sample of the decisions I make and the interactions I have with any score. To a certain degree, this is the fun part of conducting for me; because the beating of the movement is not too challenging. Let a great orchestra play, adjust as needed. And remember, the less secure you are with the score, the more and bigger you will beat. Study thoroughly, and your beat will stop here, too.
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