# Favorite Improvised Cadenzas



## Pyotr (Feb 26, 2013)

What are some of your favorite “improvised cadenza” of a concerto? By “improvised cadenza” I mean a portion of a concerto that is improvised by a performer(or another composer, such as, Ludwig van Beethoven wrote cadenzas for Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 first and third movements). It doesn't include any written by the original composer, for the purposes of this thread. 
One of mine is Jascha Heifetz’s near the end of the second movement of Mozart’s 4th violin concerto. See attached.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I see mention of them on a few albums I have, but it doesn't appear to be common... or, perhaps, not all concerti have cadenzas?


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

"Improvised" means made up on the spot. That used to be a popular sport. But who's to say what's really "improvised" and what's more or less rehearsed in advance? I'm sure that question has always been asked.

True improvisations often used to be found in piano duels between virtuosi, where someone in the audience would propose a theme and require the pianist to improvise on it. Supposedly Mozart and Beethoven were unbeatable in this.


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## waldvogel (Jul 10, 2011)

Gabriela Montero actually does improvise her cadenzas. I saw her perform the Ravel G major Concerto and, sure enough, she put in a very Ravellian cadenza in the third movement.

As her encore, she asks for requests from the audience. She starts them out as written, and finishes them that way too. What's in between seems to be pure improvisation.

Here's an example from Koln:






She obviously doesn't know a note of the requested song before hearing it from the audience.


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