Between Performance and Notation: How did Carl Reinecke understand Mozart’s piano concerto No.26 K.537?

Mako Kodama

　Carl Reinecke (1824-1910) was a German composer, pianist, conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and professor at the Leipzig Conservatory. His piano performances were admired by Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann and Franz Liszt, and he was reputed as "the greatest and most sincere Mozart player of his time."However, you may be surprised on listening for the first time to his performances preserved on piano rolls, since there is noticeable use of expressive practices such as manual asynchrony, unnotated arpeggiation, and rubato (flexibility of rhythm and tempo), which is quite far from the kind of performance style that is considered good today. 　This research clarifies the features of the performance practices audible in early piano rolls, such as those by Reinecke. It focuses on how he arranged and notated the Larghetto from Mozart's Piano Concerto No.26 K.537 for piano solo, how he performed it on piano roll (1905), and how he described the performance of the movement in his book Zur Wiederbelebung der Mozart'schen Clavier-Concerte (1891). The discrepancies between the three source materials give an insight into the implied performance practices of Reinecke’s time and his tacit knowledge. The research culminates with personal experimentation and reflection on how these performance practices can expand the freedom and possibilities of the author’s performances.

Conclusion

Each of the elements heard in Reinecke's performance is a performance practice handed down from the 18th-century and

earlier. Since Reinecke was admired by prominent musicians of his time and is one of the earliest pianists whose piano rolls

survive to this day, it is a useful methodology to try to approach the performance and interpretation of Mozart through

Reinecke’s performance. There are significant differences between Reinecke's notation, words and performance, as there is a gap

between the performance practices of the time and today. It is essential to recognize these discrepancies to understand the

performance practice of the time.

It is a relevant tool to approach historical accuracy by emulating the performance in early recordings and trying to embody

and integrate them into our performances. Ultimately, however, we will say something new in our performances by using these

practices intuitively and instinctively in our own individual way because intuition is the accumulation of everything we have ever

experienced.

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