Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491

About the work

Composed in 1786, this is one of only two Mozart piano concertos in a minor key and the most heavily scored of them all — the first to use oboes and clarinets together. The first movement's theme opens with nine of the twelve chromatic notes, and its descending chromatic pull keeps the tonality unsettled. The finale is a set of variations rather than a rondo, and it ends in the minor: almost unheard of in a concerto of the period.

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