Performing Mozart

[amojoam]

A wise piano teacher once said that Mozart can be the hardest perform, because it is "transparent." If you accidently play one wrong note, everyone hears it, unlike a nice big romantic piece which can cover mistakes up. I completely agree. I am performing a Mozart Sonata in a few days.

Any suggestions on how to practice for perfection?

gracias.

[brahmsian]

Any suggestions on how to practice for perfection?

I think you just answered your own question.....

Aim for supremo accuracy in your playing. Also, concentrate on your touch and tone, make sure it's light, and "bouncy". Just my two cents (maybe less)

[carolina estrada]

yes, you are both right in this aspect. But just think why is it Mozart the hardest perform then? if you say bacause of transparency and accuracy of notes, well...under this line it could be also Haydn, Corelli, Scarlatti, Soler....  and the other neoclassical composers born after or even the serialists, dodecaphonist or whatever music is just pure. You can´t miss a note there too! right?

Mozart is somehow a mistery we performers have the duty to solve. And this mistery is not placed only in the notes. Believe me, mates.

[pianistimo]

in some mozart repertoire you have 'voices.'  almost as if you are putting on your own play at the piano.  if you give those voices a personality - and remember them throughout the piece - you have solved the other half of the mystery, imo.

[mikey6]

Most is not all of Mozart's works should be played like an opera with different charcters.  Characterization is probably the msot important thing.

[pianistimo]

agreed.

[cloches_de_geneve]

I am not sure I agree with this concern about transparency, about the "nakedness" of wrong notes, wrong phrasing in Mozart. I agree with the mystery aspect but would turn it as follows: Some rare fortunate individuals have a particular affinity with the spirit of Mozart's music. Most don't. Those who have it are simply "carried" by the incredible flow of his music and then it sounds very lively, pulsing every second as it were, expressive. Once you are in this Mozartian frame of playing you can afford many wrong notes, they will hardly be noticed. Visibility or "transparency" of errors is the proof that one is not playing Mozart the way he should be.

My very personal view.

[carolina estrada]

Totally agree.
That´s why music finds the performer and not the other way around.

[mcgillcomposer]

A wrong note in Mozart is not the end of the world.  It is the quality of the ideas you put into the performance that is important.  Why is everyone so obsessed with note-perfect performances?  Every great pianist relies on his/her ideas...not perfection in execution of the notes.

- A

[krenske]

well, i suppose thats a point, but don't you think blemishes especially in mozart really interrupt the perfection of the musical idea?

[mcgillcomposer]

It depends.  Blemishes that result from a lack of practice are often more salient than those resulting from the tensions of performance.  A simple slip where one grazes another note, or simply plays one note incorrectly does not affect the performance in the least (unless it's the last note! ).  I have heard several wonderful interpretations of Mozart in which the performer made a small blunder.

There is also the contrary argument, which entails a note-perfect performance.  Often, so much energy has been put into achieving perfection in this parameter, that all expression is lost.

Of course the matter is not black and white...like anything in music.  That's what makes it so wonderful. 

- Andrew