Mozart Piano Concertos - Performance Considerations - Piano - Continuo Role

Continuo Role

It seems likely, although it is not absolutely certain, that the piano would have retained its ancient keyboard basso continuo role in the orchestral tuttis of the concertos, and possibly in other places as well. That this was Mozart's intention is implied by several lines of evidence. First, the piano part is placed in his autographs at the bottom of the score under the basses, rather than in the middle as in modern scores. Second, he wrote "CoB" (col Basso - with the basses) in the lower stave of the piano part during tuttis, implying that the left hand should reproduce the bass part. Some times, this bass was figured too, for example in the early edition of Nos 11-13 by Artaria in 1785, and Mozart and his father added figuration themselves to several of the concertos, such as the third piano part of No. 7 for three pianos (KV. 242), and to No. 8 (KV. 246), where Mozart even realised the figuration. On the other hand, this view is not entirely accepted. Rosen, for example, has the view that the essential feature of the piano concerto is the contrast between the solo, accompanied and tutti sections; and this psychological drama would have been ruined if the piano was effectively playing the whole time, albeit discreetly. In support of his case, Rosen argued that the published figured bass of No. 13 (KV. 415) was error-strewn and thus not by Mozart; that Mozart's realisation of the figuration in No. 8 (KV. 246) was for use in highly reduced orchestras (i. e. strings with no wind), and that the "CoB" instruction was for cueing purposes. Conversely, other scholars, notably Robert Levin have argued that real performance practice by Mozart and his contemporaries would have been considerably more embellished than even the chords suggested by the figuration. A place where the addition of the piano to the orchestra is particularly common is in the last bars after the cadenza, where the orchestra in score plays to the end on its own (except in No. 24, KV. 491), but in practice pianists, if only to finish playing at the end, sometimes accompany.

As far as modern practice goes, the matter is complicated by the very different instrumentation of today. The early fortepianos produced a more "orchestral" sound that blended easily into the orchestral background, so that discrete continuo playing could have the effect of strengthening the sonic output of the orchestra without (in effect) destroying the ritornellic structure that is the basis for the Mozart piano concerto. Furthermore, when the soloist is directing the orchestra as well, as Mozart would have been, the addition of continuo would help keep the band together. Finally, it should be noted that the vast majority of performances of Mozart piano concertos heard today are recorded rather than live, with the net effect of flattering the piano's sound (i. e. the blending of the piano and orchestra is harder to achieve in the studio than in the concert hall); hence, continuo playing by the soloist in recordings might be too intrusive and obvious for most tastes. Nevertheless, continuo playing has discreetly appeared in some modern recordings (of the fortepiano) with success, or at least, lack of intrusion (see discography, below).