Mozart-Adagio (1992) for violin, violoncello and piano

Mozart-Adagio is an exceptional composition among Pärt’s work, with most of its material being in fact a musical quotation. The composition is based on the second movement of the Piano Sonata in F major, KV 280 (189e), which is heard here in its entirety, without missing a note. Pärt has complemented Mozart’s musical speech using delicate and sometimes even unnoticeable comments, adding a few notes here and there and dividing the initial material between three instruments in a trio setting. With these subtle emphases he has given a tragic undertone to Mozart’s wistful and inward-looking work.

Nevertheless, Pärt’s piece is neither a collage nor an arrangement in the conventional sense, nor is it a collage ‘in the style of Pärt’. When we think of his collages from the 1960s, where the pervading concept was that of opposition, with conflict and contrast as the primary concepts, we can see that in Mozart-Adagio the composer has striven for the complete opposite. The worlds of the two composers blend into a single natural whole, thus posing very subtle stylistic challenges for the musicians.

Mozart-Adagio is dedicated to the memory of Oleg Kagan (1946–1990), a leading Russian violinist and an outstanding Mozart interpreter as well as a dear friend of the composer. Arvo Pärt has said that the sudden death of his close friend was a great loss.

I considered him to be one of the best Mozart interpreters on violin. So I decided to send him a final greeting with a composition permeated by the sound of his beloved Mozart.

Oleg Kagan, who was active as a soloist as well as a chamber musician, considered the piano trio as one of his favourite ensembles that he enjoyed with other legendary musicians: his wife, the cellist Natalia Gutman and pianist Sviatoslav Richter.

Mozart-Adagio was commissioned by the Helsinki Festival and was premiered in autumn 1992 by the prominent Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio (USA).