Gulda plays Mozart & Gulda

Mozart was the most frequently performed among the "household gods" of the Viennese pianist Friedrich Gulda – he played his piano music in his concerts again and again and recorded it. In doing so, the classically trained musician, who had already played successfully in jazz bands in his youth, ignored strict genre boundaries: He wanted to show the audience with his own eyes and ears that the demarcation of musical styles always becomes meaningless when good music is played honestly and with knowledge. On June 27, 1982, Gulda once again performed at the Munich Piano Summer. His partner was the jazz pianist Chick Corea, and the collaboration of the two musicians is documented on the CD (and the DVD) The Meeting – a standard in recording history. Until now, only the well-known second part of this concert was available, not the first part, which Gulda performed alone and dedicated primarily to Mozart. He thus used Mozart's piano music as an introduction to the world of jazz improvisation. Gulda performed the first part of the legendary concert from the summer of 1982 at the Deutsches Museum solo for more than 40 minutes, although he played "only" Mozart's piano sonata in C major, K. 330. But he began and ended it with his own improvisations, which sound only slightly like Mozart, but in which he offers a wide spectrum of stylistic and sonic facets, catchy melodies, and powerful cascades of sound. He plays with the instrument and he plays with the sound. But Gulda also proves himself to be a clever interpreter of Mozart. As a transition to the second part of the concert, he performed two more of his own compositions, which can also be heard on the present CD by BR Klassik. It is a stroke of luck that the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation is now making the first part of this concert event accessible to a wide audience. The recording is framed by Mozart's rarely heard Rondos for piano and orchestra in A major, K. 386, and D major, K. 382. Gulda performed them on October 4, 1969, in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz, accompanied by the Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation under the direction of Leopold Hager.