Arts & Events

On Sunday, March 27, world renowned pianist Mitsuko Uchida came to Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall to preform two Mozart Piano Concertos with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra led by concertmaster Mark Steinberg. In actuality, most of the leading was done by Mitsuko Uchida, who conducted from the piano in the Mozart Piano Concertos. Also included in the program were Selected Fantasias by Henry Purcell, ably led by Concertmaster Mark Steinberg. These works by Purcell, which were performed just before intermission, included lovely writing for the violas.  

Hearing and seeing Mitsuko Uchida conduct as well as perform on piano was a rare treat. Having heard many of Uchida’s recordings, I had yet to see her perform live. All I can say is that my admiration for her artistry grew immeasurably from the experience of seeing and hearing 

Mitsuko Uchida perform two wonderful Mozart Piano Concertos live as she conducted from the piano. 

Initially, when she came on stage, my first impression of Mitsuko Uchida was of something delicate and ethereal. She wore a filmy, see-through shawl over a green blouse. Yet there was also a showmanship touch in her sparkling silver shoes. As the concert developed, these two potentially contradictory impressions were magically transmuted into a unified whole. As pianist and conductor, perhaps especially when she performs Mozart, Mitsuko Uchida is both a humble servant of the ethereal music Mozart wrote, and she is also a woman of remarkable showmanship. Conducting from the piano, which was positioned facing the orchestra, Mitsuko Uchida used gracefully flowing hand gestures for the delicate orchestral passages in Mozart but also utilised abrupt, decisively robust and assertive hand gestures to call for demonstrative orchestral moments. Though slight of stature, Mitsuko Uchida exudes remarkable power as well as remarkable delicacy in her playing and conducting. 

The two Mozart Piano Concertos performed by Uchida in tis concert were the A Major, No. 23, K. 488, and the C minor Concerto, No. 24, K. 491. Both were written in 1786. Yet they are as different as night and day. A Major was a key that Mozart associated with sunny moods and lively musical colours. For Mozart the key of C minor is one of dark, tragic emotions. What is utterly remarkable is the fact that Mozart is so balanced a human being that, on one hand, the sunny moods are often tinged with hints of the tragic, while on the other hand his dark, tragic moods are often tinged with hints of light and hope. For example, in the A Major Concerto, No. 23, the first and last movements are as sunny as can be. Yet the middle movement, a slow Adagio (or Andante), is identified by Eric Blom as “a kind of Siciliana, or rather Napolitana, … for the pathetic Neapolitan sixth plays a great part in making it more intensely plaintive.” This is heavenly music; yet it is also a cry from the heart. Pianist Mitsuko Uchida performed this slow movement with all the delicacy and heartfelt intensity that it deserves. The cadenza played by Mitusko Uchida in this concerto was Mozart’s own. 

In both the 23rd and 24th Piano Concertos, Mozart effectively used groupings of woodwind instruments, especially flute and clarinets, though also occasionally bassoons and French horns. The woodwind section of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra did itself proud. The C minor Concerto, No.24, is gloomy throughout, though energetic. In the first movement, the cadenza played by Mitsuko Uchida was hers. The middle movement, a Larghetto, is exquisite though soulful in its gloom. The final movement is sorrowfully elegant, and it brings this work to a close as it began, in the dark key of C minor. Once again, Mitsuko Uchida was outstanding in her fidelity to Mozart’s music and its subtle moods of darkness and light. 

By way of an encore, Mitsuko Uchida performed the elegant Sarabande from Bach’s French Suite.