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Although Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart did not invent the piano concerto, no composer has left a greater imprint on the form. Over his lifetime, he wrote 21 original concertos for solo piano and orchestra, plus two such works for two and three pianos respectively, as well as four numbered arrangements of sonatas by other composers.
“One can only talk in superlatives, because if you look at the progression within the concertos, the development and the richness of these masterworks, it’s for sure the greatest cycle for piano and orchestra ever written,” said renowned German pianist Martin Helmchen. "It’s impossible, for instance, to pick a favorite because there are so, so many candidates. It’s a lifelong journey, and I’m almost through with the major ones.”
Helmchen, who has a recording of several Mozart concertos out soon, performed the Piano Concerto No. 17 in March 2022 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and he returns April 27-29 for the Piano Concerto No. 25 with guest conductor Vladimir Jurowski. (Also on the program is Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 8.)
“That [No. 25] is one of the grandest and also actually one of the very underestimated ones, because of the greatest Mozart concertos, it’s one of the lesser-played,” Helmchen said. “Extreme splendor, like a very Beethovenian feeling from the beginning onward. So, a grand scope everywhere, and an infinite richness of themes.”
Instead of the one or two themes normally found in a movement, Mozart supplies at least three, each so good that it could serve as a main theme in any other composition. “It’s like the abundance of ideas and melodic invention is so big, he couldn’t squeeze everything he wanted into the form of a concerto,” Helmchen said. Indeed, there is a third theme in the third movement that lasts only 60 or 90 seconds and then just disappears. Composer Olivier Messiaen called this brief passage the most beautiful series of bars that the Mozart ever wrote. “So, that’s just a statement that gives a little impression about the greatness of this piece,” Helmchen said.
Helmchen, 41, who grew up in Berlin and now lives about 60 miles south of the city, tends to focus on the music of Mozart as well as other core Austro-Germanic composers like Schubert and Beethoven. He has lately emphasized the music of J.S. Bach, recently recording the Six Partitas BVW 825-830, on a 1790 keyboard instrument, which he described as a hybrid of the clavichord, harpsichord and fortepiano. “I’ve been a lot into Bach and old instruments recently, but still for concerts, my core repertoire is pretty much the same.”
In 2020, Helmchen won a Gramophone Classical Music Award for his recording of Beethoven’s Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 5, one volume of his complete set of the composer’s works in the form with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin under Andrew Manze. The pianist said that he has mixed feelings about the honor. He is proud of it, but he doesn’t want it to go to his head. “I’ve had the situation, where negative criticism has confused me in a way that wasn’t good and also that awards have sedated me a little bit in an artistic way. I’m really happy about it. I think it is a fantastic honor, but I think it’s an artistic credo for me to be proud on one side and keep a little bit of a distance on the other side.”
Helmchen regards the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, which has been led by such major conductors as Lorin Maazel and Riccardo Chailly, as kind of his home orchestra. “It’s probably the orchestra I’ve played with the most in the last couple of years, and also where most of my friends, with whom I also play chamber music [are members]. So it’s an orchestra that I have a very dear and very close relationship with.”
Last year brought another career milestone for Helmchen. He and his wife, cellist Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, commissioned a double concerto for cello and piano from York Höller, a German composer who serves on the faculty of the Hochschule für Musik Köln. The two debuted the piece at the Klavier-Festival Ruhr in June 2022. Helmchen called the work the first major commission on which he collaborated from conception to completion. “That was one of the highlights of the past year for me,” he said.
Johannes Brahms’ Double Concerto in A Minor, Op. 102, written for cello, piano and orchestra, has become a beloved staple, but Helmchen and his wife felt there was a shortage of suitable follow-up works for the same combination. “As we have been playing all the piano and cello repertoire up and down for years, it was a logical next step to think about a commission,” he said. “And I’ve known York Höller for a long time. He is, I don’t want to say semi-forgotten, but one of the great composers that doesn’t have the attention he should have.”
The couple has played Höller’s Double Concerto twice and they are thrilled with it. “It’s very colorful and virtuosic,” Helmchen said. “Every note has its place. It’s extremely interwoven with the orchestra, and therefore very difficult to put together and play, but it’s super-exciting for all the players and listeners alike.” At this point, there are no plans to bring it to the United States, but Helmchen would very much like to do just that. “If there is a space for contemporary music, we would absolutely love to offer it wherever there may be interest in the States,” he said.
In July, Heller and his wife are inaugurating the Fliessen (Flow) Chamber Music Festival, as part of the Brandenburg Summer Music series. The week of concerts will take place in six venues near their home, including a barn the couple is renovating on their rural property. Featured will be some of the musicians with whom the two collaborate internationally, including violinist Christian Tetzlaff, cellist Harriet Krijgh and violist Timothy Ridout. “We hope it will be good fun,” Helmchen said. “Looking at the program and the players, it will be very substantial musically.”
