Geza Anda plays Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.21 KV. 467 (Elvira Madigan)

In 1971, I was captivated by the cover of this record. I discovered it in the music library at Coatbridge High School. As a teenager, I think that I was immediately fascinated by the beautiful lady – ‘Elvira Madigan’ - featured on the front cover as played by Pia Degermark. Furthermore, I understood that Deutsche Grammophon was probably the ‘best’ record label available. I had never heard of Geza Anda and the Salzburg Mozart Camerata Academica at that time. I am not sure that I had heard any of Mozart Piano Concertos, save perhaps by accident on Radio 3. I remember asking Mrs G’s permission before borrowing the album and heading home on the school bus. I was probably ribbed by more progressive music listeners who used to carry the latest LPs by Led Zeppelin, Yes and Genesis to and from school. Notwithstanding, I got it home and put it straight onto the Decca radiogram in my parent’s sitting room. I started at track one and played it through without a break - apart from turning the LP over. I was only half listening. At least until got to the second track on the second side.  I was stopped in my tracks by the beautiful ‘andante’. I recall thinking that I had never heard anything so lovely. Strangely, nearly 50 years later, I still hold to this view. I am not a great Mozart fan, but like the person once said, I like what I know, and know what I like. This concerto displays for me classical perfection tinged with a deep early romantic sensibility.

No need to provide a detailed note about the Piano Concerto No.21 in C major. Analyses abound. Save to say that the work’s first movement, ‘Allegro maestoso,’ is a vivacious, precursor to the introverted and perfectly balanced second movement, ‘Andante.’ The finale, an ‘Allegro vivace assai,’ is a high-spirited and irrepressible romp.

As for the 1967 film Elvira Madigan, it seems to have disappeared into oblivion. I have read the plot, but have never seen the film, and am not sure that I need to see it in full. Certainly, I have watched extracts on YouTube, and it appears to be a film of its time, slightly sub-hippy.  That said, the photography is often quite beautiful. But nowadays, mention the title and virtually ‘everyone’ associates it with Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.20. In fact, for many people the two are inseparable – Piano Concerto in C major ‘Elvira Madigan’ K.467.

The record has been remastered and re-presented on many occasions, from LP to cassette tape, CD and download. The recording issue history of this version is quite complex, with the Concerto having first been released in 1962 coupled with the Piano Concerto No.17 in G major, KV 453 on side one. I never actually bought a copy of the original vinyl album, but the picture and the music has haunted me down through the years. I know that there are some 142 recordings of this concerto in the current record catalogues with big name performers like Alfred Brendel, Martha Argerich, Earl Wild and Howard Shelley. Yet, when I want to hear this work, I always turn to Geza Anda’s recording made nearly sixty years ago. It is permanently on my now aging iPod.

Finally, the entire Piano Concerto in Geza Anda’s 1961 performance can be heard on YouTube, complete with some selected scenes from the film (Rated PG). (Accessed 11 April 2020)