Saturday, June 8

Mozart's Piano Sonatas through the eyes of Alfred Einstein - Part 9 (K. 332)

For Einstein, the Sonata in F, K. 332, is one of Mozart's most personal creations. He composed it in the summer of 1778 at Paris, and it is indeed one of his best known works. 

"The charm of this sonata-beginning lies in the fact that it is not like a beginning, but like a second theme, lyrical and songful, as if fallen from heaven. It is followed by an after-section that is like a lovely sound of nature, with the horn-like fifths in the left hand, and only then by what analytical editions call the 'epilogue' - a menacing section in D minor, full of the tension of the minor, out of which the second theme unfurls like a luminous phenomenon. Idea springs from idea; the development section again begins with a new, 'unthematic' theme, and in the recapitulation the whole 'energyless' succession is repeated on a new plane of enchanting loveliness. No one can fathom how one melodic  blossom is connected with another in this movement. Yet everyone will feel their naturalness and necessity, and the inevitability of their growth. Nor is anything to be gained here by searching for a model, for none will be found, either in Germany, or in Italy, or in Paris".

Here is the Sonata in F major, K. 332, performed by Maria Joao Pires - a pianist I really admire. (the sound quality is rather poor, I am afraid). 





 

Monday, June 3

Mozart's Piano Sonatas through the eyes of Alfred Einstein - Part 8 (K. 331)

The Sonata in A major, K. 331, is one of the most well known works of Mozart. I remember practicing it endlessly when I was a child - at the time, I think I was playing Mozart better than I do now... In order to play Mozart [well, that is], a certain degree of innocence, spiritual "cleanliness", and purity, is required... Here are Einstein's thoughts on this sublime work:

"Next comes the sonata in A major (K. 331), which has become a favourite - the one with the variations at the beginning, the Rondo all turca at the end, and the minuet (or rather Tempo di minuetto) in the middle - the work that has given so many people their first impression of Mozart. It is, however, not typical but exceptional; it is in a way a counterpart to the Munich Durnitz Sonana in D, but it places the variations at the beginning, and accordingly casts them in briefer and less virtuoso  forms; and it ends with a true scene de ballet. [...] Throughout the work one finds the fullness and sensuous beauty of the Durnitz Sonata, raised to a higher power, just as A major is an intensification of D major. And the minor of the Rondo all turca does not fail to produce a subsidiary effect of mystery".

 Here is the 2nd movement of this Sonata - the menuetto - played by Jeno Jandó.