Exposition

Between Performance and Notation: How did Carl Reinecke understand Mozart’s piano concerto No.26 K.537? (2024)

Mako Kodama
open exposition

About this exposition

　Carl Reinecke (1824-1910) was a German composer, pianist, conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and professor at the Leipzig Conservatory. His piano performances were admired by Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann and Franz Liszt, and he was reputed as "the greatest and most sincere Mozart player of his time."However, you may be surprised on listening for the first time to his performances preserved on piano rolls, since there is noticeable use of expressive practices such as manual asynchrony, unnotated arpeggiation, and rubato (flexibility of rhythm and tempo), which is quite far from the kind of performance style that is considered good today. 　This research clarifies the features of the performance practices audible in early piano rolls, such as those by Reinecke. It focuses on how he arranged and notated the Larghetto from Mozart's Piano Concerto No.26 K.537 for piano solo, how he performed it on piano roll (1905), and how he described the performance of the movement in his book Zur Wiederbelebung der Mozart'schen Clavier-Concerte (1891). The discrepancies between the three source materials give an insight into the implied performance practices of Reinecke’s time and his tacit knowledge. The research culminates with personal experimentation and reflection on how these performance practices can expand the freedom and possibilities of the author’s performances.
typeresearch exposition
keywordsperformance practice, fortepiano, early recordings, rubato, dislocation, arpeggiation, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
date19/11/2023
published27/05/2024
last modified27/05/2024
statuspublished
share statuspublic
copyrightMako Kodama
licenseCC BY-NC-ND
urlhttps://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/2388267/2388268
doihttps://doi.org/10.22501/koncon.2388267
published inKC Research Portal
portal issue1. Master Research Projects


Simple Media

id name copyright license
2461469 Mozart_drawing_Doris_Stock_1789 Mako Kodama Public domain
2461472 Mozart's own catalogue München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Public domain
2461487 Mozart Autograph K.537 Larghetto W.A. Mozart Public domain
2461505 C.Reinecke-1890 Mako Kodama Public domain
2461876 C.Reinecke-1890 Mako Kodama Public domain
2571956 Opening Mako Kodama All rights reserved
2573542 IMG_5396 Mako Kodama All rights reserved
2573714 IMG_1850 Mako Kodama All rights reserved
2573739 IMG_1854 Mako Kodama All rights reserved
2573747 IMG_1850 Mako Kodama All rights reserved
2595156 Schumann Fantasie Mako Kodama All rights reserved
2595161 Clara's piano Mako Kodama All rights reserved
2595198 1828 piano Mako Kodama All rights reserved
2595300 Reinecke's plays Reinecke Mako Kodama All rights reserved
2595302 Reinecke's plays Reinecke Mako Kodama All rights reserved
2595308 IMG_7263 Mako Kodama All rights reserved
2595311 IMG_7264 Mako Kodama All rights reserved
2595314 IMG_7264 Mako Kodama All rights reserved
2595317 Reinecke's piano roll Mako Kodama All rights reserved
2595434 Couprin Mako Kodama All rights reserved
2595445 Kalkbrenner Mako Kodama All rights reserved
2595564 CPE Bach Mako Kodama All rights reserved
2595797 as written Mako Kodama All rights reserved
2595800 unnotated arpeggios Mako Kodama All rights reserved
2595807 dislocation Mako Kodama All rights reserved
2595810 earlier rubato Mako Kodama All rights reserved
2595813 later rubato Mako Kodama All rights reserved
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2598934 Screenshot 2024-02-24 at 11.56.53 Mako Kodama All rights reserved
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2601727 DSC06118_切り Mako Kodama All rights reserved
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