Adagio (Autoporträt)

The Adagio refers directly to Mozart‘s Adagio B-minor for piano KV 540. Alexander Goehr‘s Adagio at first follows the harmonic and motivic events of the original, while the repetitions of the two parts allow latitude for own variations and developments. The tempo increases, texture and sound are getting denser. Against the background of the original work by Mozart, Goehr draws a musical self-portrait in a subtly differentiated instrumentation, based on his own understanding.

'This work is modelled closely on Mozart’s Adagio in B minor for piano, following the harmonic and motivic events of the Mozart. But when I came to consider an orchestral composition, I replaced the repeats which characterize Mozart’s piece – both halves of the piece are repeated – with drastic variants which, while retaining the precise proportions of the original impose a gradual acceleration of tempi – the second greater than the first.' (Alexander Goehr)