What if Mozart, the most beloved composer of all time, came back to life today?
After his explorations of the repertoires of Bach, Schumann, and Brahms, Thomas Enhco continues to build bridges between jazz and classical music, this time delving into the immense work of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as part of an album titled "Mozart Paradox." On solo piano, he improvises with complete freedom on the timeless themes Mozart offered in genres as varied as the sonata, symphony, string quartet, concerto, sacred music, and opera.
A jazzman of the highest order, Thomas Enhco is also an accomplished classical soloist, regularly invited by symphony orchestras worldwide to perform concertos by Mozart, Ravel, and Gershwin.
In 2022, his improvisation on the "Lacrimosa" from the famous Requiem left a lasting impression and marked the starting point for this solo piano project full of surprises, revisiting beloved themes in a modern, intimate way, brimming with the fire and freshness characteristic of the most cherished of composers.
Thomas Enhco summarizes "Mozart Paradox" as follows:
"Mozart has been with me since childhood. I heard my mother sing his opera arias and my grandfather conduct his symphonies. On the violin (my first instrument) I worked on sonatas, concertos, and duets; on the piano, fantasies, chamber music, and concertos, some of which I had the opportunity to play in concert in recent years. Yet, as a jazz musician, I had never before drawn upon his work for improvisation, as I had done with Bach, Brahms, or Schumann.
Last September, I went into the studio for three days and started recording improvisations, but something wasn't right; I doubted myself more and more as the takes accumulated; we then decided to invite about ten people to attend a private concert in the studio, two nights in a row. It was much more natural for me to play this spontaneous music for a flesh-and-blood audience, and what is recorded on this album largely comes from those two concerts.
This album is entirely jazz for me, in its essence (improvisation, rhythms, harmonies, the way of varying around a theme as in the tradition of jazz standards). Moreover, it's a solo piano album, without any other instrument or effect, but which attempts to summon, as in all of Mozart's music, opera singers and theatrical characters."
DON GIOVANNI OVERTURE - AFTER THE 'OVERTURE' OF THE OPERA DON GIOVANNI, K. 527
PIANO SONATA IN A MINOR - AFTER THE FIRST MOVEMENT OF THE PIANO SONATA NO. 8 IN A MINOR, K. 310
NACHTMUSIK - AFTER THE FOURTH MOVEMENT OF EINE KLEINE NACHTMUSIK, SERENADE NO. 13 FOR STRINGS IN G MAJOR, K. 525
PIANO SONATA IN A MAJOR - AFTER THE FIRST MOVEMENT OF THE PIANO SONATA NO. 11 IN A MAJOR, K. 331
VIOLIN SONATA IN E MINOR - AFTER THE SECOND MOVEMENT OF THE SONATA FOR PIANO AND VIOLIN NO. 21 IN E MINOR, K.304
KYRIE - AFTER THE 'KYRIE' FROM THE GREAT MASS IN C MINOR, K. 427
AVE VERUM CORPUS - AFTER THE MOTET AVE VERUM CORPUS, K. 618
WALTZ OF THE PRIESTS - AFTER 'MARCH OF THE PRIESTS' FROM THE OPERA THE MAGIC FLUTE, K. 620
Disc 2
DISSONANCE SYMPHONY - AFTER THE FIRST MOVEMENT OF STRING QUARTET NO. 19 IN C MAJOR, K. 465 "DISSONANCE" AND THE FOURTH MOVEMENT OF SYMPHONY NO. 40 IN G MINOR, K. 550
DISSONANCE VICE VERSA
LA CI DAREM LA MANO - AFTER THE DUET FROM DON GIOVANNI, K. 527
RECORDARE
LACRIMOSA - AFTER 'LACRIMOSA' FROM THE REQUIEM IN D MINOR, K. 626
LACRIMOSA
CLARINET CONCERTO - AFTER THE SECOND MOVEMENT OF THE CLARINET CONCERTO IN A MAJOR, K. 622
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