Symphony No. 29 in A Major, K. 201
2 oboes, 2 horns, and strings
Allegro moderato
Andante
Menuetto
Allegro con spirito
Program Notes by Martin Pearlman
Mozart composed his sparkling Symphony in A, K. 201, early in 1774, about the time he turned 18. He had just returned from a visit with his father to Vienna, where he had heard the latest works of Haydn and others, and the experience seems to have inspired him to write a number of important new works. While this symphony still has a youthful vigor and grace and a wonderfully transparent texture, it is already moving away from the polished "entertainment" of Mozart's earlier music. With a nervous tension in the first movement themes, the beautiful cantabile of the slow movement, and the brilliant finale, this symphony represents the high point in his early symphonic writing. He then abandoned the form for four years, before returning to write the more complex and personally expressive late symphonies.
Boston Baroque Performances
Symphony No. 29 in A Major, K. 201
March 2 & 3, 2012
NEC’s Jordan Hall, Boston, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
February 4 & 6, 2000
NEC’s Jordan Hall, Boston, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
February 22, 1991
NEC’s Jordan Hall, Boston, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
March 13, 1982
NEC’s Jordan Hall, Boston, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor