painting music: Mozart Quintet for Piano & Winds

The joy of Chamber Music
Quintet for Piano, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn & Bassoon K452 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Written in 1784, and first performed in Vienna with the composer at the piano, Mozart was very satisfied with this piece, if somewhat exhausted from the playing. He wrote to his father;

“I consider it the best thing I have written in my life. I wish you could have heard it, and how beautifully it was performed. To tell the truth, I grew tired from the mere playing at the end, and it reflects no small credit on me that my audience did not in any degree share my fatigue.”

It is an unusual piece in the scoring - no other piece had been written for this combination of instruments at the time of its creation, although others, including Beethoven, followed.

As a player, it is extremely rewarding, and among my very favourite chamber pieces. I’ve been lucky enough to play it a few times, and each time it fills me with real joy. Mozart found a way to give each instrument moments to show their individual tonal qualities, maintain the general interplay, and create a sense of dialogue with the piano.

In creating this painting my main aim was to express a sense of layering of the many thousands of voices that have brought this work to life over the centuries. I used collage fragments of the original printed and autograph scores, adding more gestural marks and graphic elements to suggest more contemporary and varied interpretations.

I’m sharing a classic 1955 performance featuring Walter Gieseking (piano), Sidney Sutcliffe (oboe), Bernard Walton (clarinet) and Denis Brain (horn).

W. A. Mozart: Quintet for Piano & Winds in E flat major, K. 452