[2] In the earlier work, the whole ensemble plays question and answer phrases and repeats them in their entirety:The orchestration of the piano concerto is subtler and more differentiated.

In the early symphony, the answering phrase consisted of block harmonies, but in the concerto it opens out into flowing lines of counterpoint, initially featuring just two horns and a bassoon: On repeating this, a different group of instruments plays the answering phrase, with "the unusual sound of the violins providing the bass for the solo clarinets":[3] Roger Kamien and Naphtali Wagner have analysed in detail Mozart's use of bridge themes in the exposition of the concerto's first movement.

Mozart's father, in a famous letter to Maria ("Nannerl"), expressed surprise that a call was made for the slow movement ("a rather unusual occurrence!")

[7] In another similarity to K. 271, the finale is interrupted by a lengthy and slow minuet episode before returning to the main theme for a lively finish (also recalling Count Almaviva's adagio pleadings for forgiveness leading to a buffa conclusion in Le nozze di Figaro, a work that Mozart was working on at this time).

(The Menuetto episode of K. 271, while often described as a set of variations, is actually in a more elaborate rounded binary form with both parts repeated, again followed by a transition back to the main rondo theme.)