The icy grief in the central movement of Mozart's piano concerto in A Major, K. 488 - what is called in Japanese aesthetics "mono no aware" - the sadness inherent to earthly things: the realization that nothing here belongs to us, that one cannot hold onto the wilting of flowers, but only the continuity of blossoming and wilting - the fact that some things wilt in the middle of summer and others bloom in the dead of winter - this unfathomably rich fabric, this endless overlapping of threads is finally what we can trust in, even as the threads themselves unravel.
The music has the transparency of certain ancient Chinese poems and paintings. Mozart's classicism is classically Chinese. So is his politeness, evident in the outer movements of this concerto, with their garden frolics amid summer evening coolness. This politeness is more than an aristocratic posture. Politeness is a lightness of touch, the proper way to behave as overnight guests here on earth.
The complete work played by Mitsuko Uchida below:
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