wow! Mozart

[ryan2189]

I was blown away today while covering the Eb Major Sonata K.282. I just started lessons with a new instructor and we covered so many aspects of phrasing, voicing and the control of weight, distance, and speed in a person's physical piano playing. I am very excited but also very nervous about what is going to happen in the future. Mozart was described by my teacher as being simple to a non-observer, but really musically sophistocated. Now I know what he is talking about. Does anyone have anything to add to this? I think it wil help me greatly in understanding this topic even more.

[thalberg]

Haha....if you want a good laugh about Mozart being easy/sophisticated, read the thread started by Breadboy.  You have to get a few pages into it to get to the hilarious parts.

Moving on, yes I do have something to add to it. 

Mozart was writing in a time when it was the fashion for everything to sound simple.  Yet Mozart was capable of writing with great complexity.  He often found this challenging, and he wrote in his letters that it was his goal to write music that would be immediately accessible to the amateur, yet hold tremendous fascination for the expert.  He did succeed in pretty much everyone's opinion.  My Schenkerian analysis teacher used to point out uncommon devices Mozart used, and then he would say "Mozart knew everything."  (In this case he was talking about some really strange register transfer where one voice moved by half step while being transposed down two octaves and arriving on some strange chromatic harmony.  It was 6 years ago---I can't remember the details.)

One thing that Breadboy rather astutely points out, is that Mozart did not ever write anything very virtuosic.  But that is simply because it would have gone against the style of his day.  For someone with the talent and ability to play the very hardest show pieces, Mozart is quite easy.  But for many of us mortals, trying to master the ease, clarity, shaping, and fluidity of Mozart does not come easily.  Mozart used to say you should play with a legato that flows like oil.  I don't think I've got that one yet.

[teresa_b]

Haha....if you want a good laugh about Mozart being easy/sophisticated, read the thread started by Breadboy.  You have to get a few pages into it to get to the hilarious parts.

I do remember it!  It is worth looking up. 

One thing that Breadboy rather astutely points out, is that Mozart did not ever write anything very virtuosic.  But that is simply because it would have gone against the style of his day.  For someone with the talent and ability to play the very hardest show pieces, Mozart is quite easy.  But for many of us mortals, trying to master the ease, clarity, shaping, and fluidity of Mozart does not come easily.  Mozart used to say you should play with a legato that flows like oil.  I don't think I've got that one yet.

As one of the many mortals (currently working on PC no 9, K271) who has played a lot of Mozart (but never said I mastered it  ) I'd like to add a comment or two. 

"Virtuosic" is relative.  I don't think you could really say there is a lack of virtuosity in Mozart's music, although much of it sounds crystalline and simple.  The Sonatas K330 and K332, for example-- And the Piano Concertos no 9, and 15-27 all exhibit virtuosity, albeit in a different form than the Romantics. 

I disagree that anyone who can play difficult show pieces can play convincing Mozart.  They can play the notes, but exactly what you describe as the challenges--capturing his essence--not so easy.

Have fun!
Teresa

[thalberg]

I do remember it!  It is worth looking up. 

As one of the many mortals (currently working on PC no 9, K271) who has played a lot of Mozart (but never said I mastered it  ) I'd like to add a comment or two. 

"Virtuosic" is relative.  I don't think you could really say there is a lack of virtuosity in Mozart's music, although much of it sounds crystalline and simple.  The Sonatas K330 and K332, for example-- And the Piano Concertos no 9, and 15-27 all exhibit virtuosity, albeit in a different form than the Romantics. 

Virtuosic is indeed relative.  And, for someone who has played the very most difficult works of people like Corigliano, Ravel and Rachmaninoff, the hardest works of Mozart are technically quite easy.  Relatively speaking.  For this small group of people.

I disagree that anyone who can play difficult show pieces can play convincing Mozart.  They can play the notes, but exactly what you describe as the challenges--capturing his essence--not so easy.

Have fun!
Teresa

I must agree with you there.  I have heard some fantastic pianists (who have played Ondine, Rach 3 and such) play Mozart at lightning speed with perfect technique, but it was flat, boring, and I couldn't wait until it was over.  The Mozart performances I've liked the best have taken a more Cantabile approach with less emphasis on speed.

[ramseytheii]

I think the difficulty with Mozart lies in the constant changing tone color, because at first glance it seems like he uses a lot of passage-work, or formulaic patterns.  But they all have to be inflected differently.  The worst performances of Mozart by far are the ones that don't seem to have any variety of character, the ones that sort of sound the same way all the way through a movement.  There has to be an overflowing of nuance and inflection.

It is easier, in a way, for people to do that with Chopin, because his melodies tend to be wider spaced, and invite that sort of playing.  But with mozart, writing in endless scales and so much close together, it is harder to see the necessity.

Walter Ramsey