Ep. 61 | Robert Levin Reveals Mozart’s REAL Performance Style: Improvisation, Figured Bass & Secrets

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In this extraordinary episode of the HMA Podcast, Nikhil Hogan sits down with legendary pianist, conductor, and Mozart scholar Dr. Robert Levin, the world’s leading champion of classical improvisation.

Levin is internationally celebrated for restoring the authentic Classical-era performance tradition — improvised cadenzas, embellished repeats, continuo realization, and the living spirit of Mozart and Beethoven’s language. His recordings for DG, Decca, Sony Classical, and others have become historic landmarks in performance practice.

In this deep, wide-ranging conversation, Levin recounts:
• How Hans Swarowski shocked him in 1966 with the command: “If you want to play Mozart properly, you must improvise.”
• His life-changing training with Nadia Boulanger, the greatest teacher of the 20th century.
• How Mozart really taught composition, figured bass, and improvisation.
• The truth about cadenzas, embellishment, and why modern classical performances lack risk.
• His own early attempts at completing Mozart fragments — and how it changed his career.
• His legendary improvised Mozart fantasies using audience-submitted themes.
• Why thoroughbass is the missing key to musical understanding.
• His favorite Mozart sonatas, concertos, and symphonies.
• His love of jazz, Art Tatum, Bill Evans, and Brad Mehldau.

Chapters:
0:00 — Introduction: The Legendary Robert Levin
1:06 — 1966: Hans Swarowski tells Levin “You must improvise Mozart.”
3:17 — Levin at age 18: Training, teachers, and musical background
4:50 — Life-changing study with Nadia Boulanger
10:23 — Boulanger’s discipline: Harmony, figured bass, and musicianship
11:59 — Why thoroughbass is essential for performers
14:00 — Levin responds to Schoenberg’s critique of figured bass
17:15 — Beginning Mozart completions: The Requiem fugue story
21:32 — Mozart’s 140+ unfinished works — and what they reveal
23:09 — How Mozart actually taught composition & improvisation
26:04 — C.P.E. Bach’s treatise & how Mozart learned to improvise
27:00 — Species counterpoint vs. Thoroughbass
31:01 — How figured bass shapes harmony, syntax & creativity
33:02 — Mozart as a major improviser (and how concertos were performed)
34:43 — 1989: Levin shocks a conference by improvising Mozart live
36:37 — Improvised fantasies using audience-submitted themes
38:28 — Reaction of peers: Fear, curiosity, admiration
41:06 — Why improvisation transforms your interpretation of written music
44:04 — Do classical performers misunderstand “improvisation”?
46:58 — Mozart’s embellished repeats: The evidence
49:17 — Risk, danger & storytelling: What modern performance lost
52:31 — Mozart’s audience vs. today’s audience
54:38 — Lightning Round: Favorite Mozart & Beethoven works
57:12 — Levin’s proudest musical moments
58:04 — What Levin would ask Mozart
1:00:04 — Levin on jazz: Tatum, Evans, Mehldau
1:01:06 — Closing: Dr. Robert Levin’s impact on the classical world