Documentary

Vladimir Ashkenazy and Daniel Barenboim perform Mozart's Double Concerto in E-flat Major, K. 365

A documentary by Christopher Nupen

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Cast

Vladimir Ashkenazy — Pianist

Daniel Barenboim — Pianist, conductor

English Chamber Orchestra

Program notes

Filmed over three days in March 1966 and released just weeks later, this film was the first of a genre that would revolutionize the classical music world for decades to come. Captured here is the first public performance by Vladimir Ashkenazy and Daniel Barenboim together, as well as the first collaboration between Christopher Nupen and David Findlay, whose documentaries provided an unprecedented up-close glimpse of the world's great performers. The film's rapid production meant that most of the management at the BBC, where the film premiered, watched for the first time along with the viewing public. Double Concerto went on to air in 18 countries and win multiple prizes, helping make international stars of the two pianists.

Two years after his famed "Jeunehomme" concerto, in which the young Mozart asserted a compositional style and personality uniquely his own, he wrote this double concerto in 1779 for himself and sister Nannerl to perform. The influence of the sinfonia concertante and the Mannheim school is on full display here, with dramatic dynamic shifts, virtuosic scales and brilliant tremolos, requiring a delicate and exacting execution.

A closer look: featured composers

Further listening: featured works

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