Believe it: Jarrett and Chick Corea play Mozart concerto
mainAn extraordinary document from 1985, a time when musicians defied generic categorisation.
Comments
MOST READ TODAY:
-
News
Hilary Hahn: I’m under AI attack
The US violinist has posted this message on…
-
Orchestras
It’s Black Friday in Manchester as ENO dumps its orchestra
English National Opera has rolled out plans for…
-
RIP
Sad news: BBC orchestra mourns its leader, 48
Laura Samuel, Leader of the BBC Scottish Symphony…
-
News
A London orchestra erases John Eliot Gardiner
Eyebrows rose in April last year when the…
Musicians don’t want to be categorized. It is the powers that be in the music business who do that. This was great to see.
I remember those recordings. Those performances don’t hold up well. They weren’t much at the time, either.
Quite agree, especially Corea’s mediocre pianism.
I have the same concerto Corea with Gulda under Harnoncourt’s baton
It is on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lUZhMHpOPM&lc=z12xivlpnweduvdom04cijdj2tedd3nbz3o.1613155060148185
https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Double-Concerto-Corea-Compositions/dp/B002M3QV2Y
Orchestra? Conductor? Thanks.
Yoshikazu Tanaka conducts the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra.
They look happy to be making music together, and I am happy hearing this. Bravo tutti.
Chick Corea’s recordings or Mozart Piano Concertos #20 and #23 are my favorites for these concertos. His playing has perfect dynamics, musicianship and intellect. The slow movement of #23 is deeply moving.
When people talk about great pianists, they often dismiss jazz pianists as Corea, Jarret, Thelonious, John Lewis, Teddy Wilson.
Not to mention, Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum and Cecil Taylor.
Extraordinary! I wonder if they went back and improvised a Mozartian encore…
Not a good reading, just my opinion, of course đŸ˜‰
Listen closely to the cadenzas (both first & last mvts): it’s not just a good reading. Those pianists are true musicians. They’d make Mozart proud.
Jarrett’s and Corea’s classical music chops are at the level of a good conservatory graduate, of which the classical music world and local orchestras are full, and but for their name recognition in jazz, they would not have gotten many of those classical music gigs.
Are you suggesting they should stay in that niche jazz bubble?The world is also full of name recognized classical musicians who still get gigs after consistently conservatory grad level or pedestrian performances.
All the more reason for jazz musicians with “good conservatory graduate” levels (if that) not to add to what is an already saturated market.
So – best never dare to improvise again? Because the world’s best conservatoire alumni can’t worth a damn.
They can leave their bubble all they want, just don’t expect to be taken seriously on the level of far greater pianists
There is a very strong possibility you may right.
I don’t think that’s the point, but do I understand the slightly sore point you’re trying to make!
Even a top flight conservatory graduate wouldn’t (and wouldn’t *dare*) improvise a single note.
What a delight! The love they have for the music and the joy in playing together, great musicians!
I thought it was a splendid performance, full of brio. If the ensemble was just a little bit flaky in the first few minutes, does it matter ? Thank you, NL ( and others in the thread ) for drawing it to our attention
It takes one to know one. Mozart was a great improviser himself.
A little off-topic, but I thought the Gramophone reviews of Corea’s two Mozart recordings were rather unfair. The reviewer of the double concerto with Gulda and Harnoncourt banged on about the fatuous sleeve notes and the percussive recorded piano sound, none of which was Corea’s or Gulda’s fault. The Gramophone reviewer of his performances of no. 20 and 23, with the St Paul Chamber Orchestra and Bobby McFerrin (who did an excellent job!) welcomed the freshness of the performances, but couldn’t resist airily condemning Corea’s “occasionally rather lumpy” phrasing. OK, Corea’s not a Brendel or a Pollini, but that criticism was overdone. The reviewer overlooked the outstanding bits — the final movements of both concerti were wonderful, as were Corea’s own cadenzas. None of it could have been pulled off by “an upper-level conservatory graduate”.
These are two of my favourite recordings of the 20 and 23, and I wish Corea had recorded a few more.