MOZART ON GUITAR?
When I heard Mozart's Piano Concerto No.23 KV 488 in A major, I knew immediately that
the piano part would also sound on the guitar. On the one hand, because of the key of A major
-the Adagio, by the way, in Mozart's only work in F-sharp minor- and on the other hand -
despite all the virtuosity of the piano part- because of its "chamber music" instrumentation
with strings and 5 woodwinds, including 2 clarinets instead of oboes and the missing timpani
and trumpets, which would dynamically crush the guitar. It must have been Mozart's favorite
piece among the piano concertos, because he never sold this late work during his lifetime: he
only ever wanted to play it himself!
The Adagio sounds so authentic on the guitar, as if it was designed by the master himself! The
biggest problem in the arrangement was the Alberti basses of the left piano hand and the
overlying fast scales of the right hand. However, as we all know, there is a solution for
everything, you just have to find it! For the orchestral part, I have created a second guitar part,
so that Mozart's masterpiece can also be performed as a guitar duet. A small sample of the
arrangement can be seen on my website www.walter-abt/news. In addition to the present
arrangement for solo guitar, I have revised other versions:
Duet 2 guitars
1 guitar soloist with plucked ensemble accompaniment
1 guitar, 5 winds and 10 strings
1 guitar and piano accompaniment