Mozart is Easier to Play than Any Other Composer

[pianoperfmajor]

Antonio Alderete, my piano teacher (he's almost a god) told me: If you want to know if anyone is a good pianist, ask him to play K. 545 2nd movement.

easy as pie 

[gyzzzmo]

easy as pie 

Maybe you should take Mozart a bit more serious and stop playing it on the 'childrens' way.

[dansemacabre79]

I agree. Anyone who thinks Mozart is easy clearly doesn't understand the music properly, nor the technique required to bring his music off well.

[jam8086]

Might I just say, SO WHAT?!

The difficulty of music has nothing to do with the quality of the music.  Period.  If you dismiss easy pieces as being trivial, childish, and pointless, you're basically just a snob that likes to show off.

I don't even really agree that much with people that say Mozart is more musically difficult than other composers, I think playing music by every composer requires the same amount of musicality.  But it still doesn't matter because the degree of difficulty does not determine the quality of a piece.

It seems like most of the people who think Mozart is immature have not heard his very dark pieces, some examples being 2nd movement of k310, k475 (fantasy in c minor), and piano concerto 20 in d minor, k466.

And instead of bashing composers, why don't you try writing something yourself.  I bet Mozart absolutely destroys anything you could write.  I'm sick of all these snobs that just play the most technical pieces they can find and think they're great, but they've never written a piece of music themselves, which just shows how uncreative they really are.  These people would be more accurately called "computers" rather than "musicians."

(I'm actually not yelling at you, pianoperfmajor, because I know you said that you appreciate Mozart, you just don't agree with people that say he's very musically difficult, and I sort of see where you're coming from.  I'm more addressing people who just say Mozart is a simple, childish joke of a composer in every respect.)

[barnowl]

I took my first lesson on Friday, almost 2 weeks ago. My teacher assigned me
Minuet in F (K.2, I think).

I was looking forward to playing it for her this coming Friday. But after reading all these posts about how tough Mozart is, I am now soiling my scivvies at the thought. 

Can you see the headlines?

Local Man's Body Found Stuffed in Piano - Teacher Indicted

[jericho]

Oh c'mon guys! Mozart is obviously the easiest to play among the major piano composers.

"In Mozart's keyboard works everything is exposed. There are relatively few notes and each of them counts. Not only that you find the right key, but that you give each key the right nuance, the right inflection. If you are not careful you fall into a trap. This is also why these pieces are relatively rarely performed. I think that most players shy away from them. They either don't see the complications and think the pieces are too easy, or they do see the complications and find them too difficult." -Alfred Brendel

"The works of Mozart may be easy to read, but they are very difficult to interpret.  The least speck of dust spoils them.  They are clear, transparent, and joyful as a spring, and not only those muddy pools which seem deep only because the bottom cannot be seen" -Wanda Landowska

"The sonatas of Mozart are unique: too easy for children, too difficult for adults.  Children are given Mozart to play because of the quantity of notes; grown ups avoid him because of the quality of notes." - Artur Schnabel

"What is the secret about Mozart?  Does anyone play him well?  A phrase which would seem easy in Haydn or Beethoven would seem horribly difficult in Mozart ..." -Sviatoslav Richter

Countless other GREAT pianists said the same thing! Whoever said that Mozart is difficult does not deserve to be called a pianist!

[amelialw]

Mozart is easier to learn, play, and perform than most other composers.  I'm sick of people's arguments saying he's 'musically' difficult.  That's so untrue.  I've got news for you: Rachmaninoff is incredibly musically difficult AND technically difficult.  Mozart features simple scalar lines and simple chords.  And I'm not talking out my ass either.. I have played a great deal of Mozart including several of his sonatas and two of his piano concerti (C major k 467 and B flat major k 595).  I open for dicussion..

oh if he's so easy to play, post a recording of one of his pieces that you are learning or have learnt.

I disagree. Although he was young when he died, alot of his works are musically mature which makes it hard to play them.They are hard to interpret and since many parts of the music is usually bare it makes it all the harder.

The other thing is that since Mozart is as easy as you claim, people should be playing Mozart for their exams, my teacher is an examiner and she said she barely hears that. She said only a true genius would dare bring out the musicality and emotion of the piece or even be able to interpret it without copying someone else.

It goes the other way for me, if anyone calls Mozart's pieces easy, they don't deserve to be called a pianist.
Many are scared of playing Mozart too...

yes exactly as jam says, many people have not attempted to learn or heard Mozart's dramatic sonatas and fantasy's. So unless you have learn them pls do not say such things. And i bet if Mozart heard many of you play, well those who said he's easy, he would just yell at you and ask you to get out.

[mcgillcomposer]

Oh c'mon guys! Mozart is obviously the easiest to play among the major piano composers.

"In Mozart's keyboard works everything is exposed. There are relatively few notes and each of them counts. Not only that you find the right key, but that you give each key the right nuance, the right inflection. If you are not careful you fall into a trap. This is also why these pieces are relatively rarely performed. I think that most players shy away from them. They either don't see the complications and think the pieces are too easy, or they do see the complications and find them too difficult." -Alfred Brendel

"The works of Mozart may be easy to read, but they are very difficult to interpret.  The least speck of dust spoils them.  They are clear, transparent, and joyful as a spring, and not only those muddy pools which seem deep only because the bottom cannot be seen" -Wanda Landowska

"The sonatas of Mozart are unique: too easy for children, too difficult for adults.  Children are given Mozart to play because of the quantity of notes; grown ups avoid him because of the quality of notes." - Artur Schnabel

"What is the secret about Mozart?  Does anyone play him well?  A phrase which would seem easy in Haydn or Beethoven would seem horribly difficult in Mozart ..." -Sviatoslav Richter

Countless other GREAT pianists said the same thing! Whoever said that Mozart is difficult does not deserve to be called a pianist!

Uhm...I may be wrong, but aren't all of the above quotations implying that interpreting Mozart is DIFFICULT? So, according to you,Richter, Brendel, Schnabel, and Landowska are not deserving of the title 'pianist'

[amelialw]

no these great pianists did not literally say that Mozart is easy. Every composer wrote  pieces that hard in their own way. Bottom line: People should not be comparing composers of the past in this way.

[mcgillcomposer]

Well his musical style NEVER matured since he was 4.

This isn't even worth commenting on, but I am going to anyway. 

Perhaps you can explain the followng, with examples:

- The intricacy of Mozart's part writing in the later symphonies (not hard to do if it's the same as the works he was writing @ 4).
- The contrapuntal richness of the Requiem mass (again, not hard to do if it's the same as in the works he was writing when he was 4).
- The harmonic innovations of the late string quartets, and the Requiem mass.
- The contrapuntal richness of the final piano sonata.

Anyway, I won't await a response with any urgency because I highly doubt you even know where to start.

So, save us the pain of reading your remarks and stop making ignorant, unsupported comments.

[mcgillcomposer]

no these great pianists did not literally say that Mozart is easy.

Ya exactly...they implied it was difficult to interpret. Did you even read my post and the one I had replied to?

[mcgillcomposer]

You hardly can compare mozart with liszt nor rachmaninoff.
The styles are totally different. Liszt and rachmaninoff are more about the great lines of the story and mozart (bach too) is much more subtle and miniscure changes in dynamics.

Ya check out the scores of Mozart and Bach...completely PACKED with dynamic markings...wow...outrageous.

[mikey6]

Is it any wonder this topic was moved to 'student's corner'?

[nyonyo]

Playing Mozart is not too demanding physically if we compare to say Chopin Etude. However, it is not easy to play a simple piece to be interesting and beautiful as well as classy.

RS

[amelialw]

thanks RS, that's what I've been trying to point out...

[diminished2nd]

I think Mozart is quite difficult to play well, but I think others are too.

It's like one of my teacher's other students: she can play Bach very well, perfectly accurate. I have a hard time doing that. However, when she goes to play Debussy, it just sounds sort of mechanical, whereas I seem to have a built in ability to play Debussy well, with all the colours and everything that makes his music so beautiful when played right (or so my teacher says).

I think it's the same with Mozart. Some may have a sort of built in ability to play Mozart with all the wit and charm that his music demands, and others don't. So some find his music easier to play than others.

[amelialw]

haha...that's very true. I can play Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Debussy, Mendelssohn and Schumann pretty well but when it comes to bach I simply dread it...

[Nightscape]

I don't understand this.  Some say that Mozart is so difficult because it requires a delicate touch and sensitivity to dynamics.  But I'm afraid the exact same argument could be applied to Rachmaninoff.  If you play his G major prelude without a delicate touch and sensitivity you've simply ruined it.  And don't tell me that wrong notes in Rachmaninoff are unlikely to be heard - If you make a mistake in this prelude any astute listener will be able to tell.

Even wrong notes in the note-eist passages of Rachmaninoff can be heard.  So obviously it's not about the music and the technical and "musical" difficulties.  Mozart is simply harder from a performance aspect since most people are more impressed and moved by Rachmaninoff.  In order to do that with Mozart simply requires more effort and sincerity to project it to the audience.  Of course then you could argue that they are equally difficult since despite the Rachmaninoff being easier to project, it is way harder to learn and memorize all of the notes in the Rachmaninoff.  So perhaps this is a moot point.

By the way, Hanon is much harder to project and move an audience with than either Mozart or Rachmaninoff.  So perhaps his music is the "hardest"?

[mcgillcomposer]

By the way, Hanon is much harder to project and move an audience with ...

Ya, because it's not moving music.

[shortyshort]

I'm no expert on Mozart, or any other composer, but to get Mozart to sound clean and crisp is what I find difficult.  

[daniloperusina]

When you take music seriously, everything is difficult.
You are always pushed to take your interpretative and technical skills to their limits, whether it be the C major prelude from WTC1, Hammerklavier sonata or Rach 3. Hanon is not music.
Rachmaninoff once said that the most difficult thing he composed, according to himself, was the opening of the third concerto, not the rest.
With some pieces you might find the 'solution' faster, but does that mean that for example the slow movement from K545 is 'easy'?
You can answer that by recording yourself playing it.
Or why not the C major prelude?
Learn it, record it, listen, and then say "Oh, that was so easy".

I bet you'll rather discover what embarrassing shortcomings you have, even in 'easy' pieces.

[Nightscape]

But I'm afraid Hanon is music.... just not very good music.

[daniloperusina]

How do mean that Hanon is music? I only see pure finger exercises. What constitutes a 'composition' is not so easy to answer of course, but...if Hanon's exercises are really 'speaking' to you as expressive musical compositions, then...  

[pianowelsh]

EVERYTHING is difficult until you make it easy.  True in Rachnaninov your chord and octave technique will get much more of a workout typically than in mozart.  Interpretationwise Mozart IS far more exposed than Rachmaninov so it is harder..However there is much more to take your attention in Rachmaninov SO i believe the difficult actually equals out. They require different things of you which is why the wise pianists play both on competitions - to show the jury they have skill, taste and pinpoint control.   I cannot agree that in a technical sense mozart is easier to play than any other composer!  For a start within mozarts output there is a vast range in the difficulty level of the works (musically and technically).....Im sorry and I hate to draw this conclusion BUT anyone who disregards the output of Mozart is either totally ignorant of real Mozart and just plays it badly (as in the case of Glenn Gould!) or worse has no soul and connection with music on a profound level... you choose.

[teresa_b]

OK, I just finished a practice session on Mozart's PC no 9, K271.  (I am preparing it to play in the spring with chamber orchestra.)  I've been working on the 3rd movement at slower tempos.  Just for fun I tried it at tempo.  Aaaarrrghhh! 

I defy anyone to play this (accurately!) at its "presto" (approx. 152) tempo and still say "Mozart is easy."   

Teresa 

[Nightscape]

How do mean that Hanon is music? I only see pure finger exercises. What constitutes a 'composition' is not so easy to answer of course, but...if Hanon's exercises are really 'speaking' to you as expressive musical compositions, then...   

Come on!  Surely at some point or other you've had the melody stuck in your head!

Da na na na na na na na, Da na na na na na na na, Da na na na na na na na

Besides, there are a number of early Philip Glass compositions that sound startlingly similar...

[amelialw]

I agree with pianowelsh. Eveything is hard in it's own way until you are done/almost done with it then perhaps you can say it's easy, or unless you tackle a piece that's harder.

[emill]

The contradiction of Mozart ......
       easy to learn, but
               extremely difficult to play !!!

[kelly1995]

 hi Im new to the forum: I have always felt that how difficult a piece is to play is really determined by your artisitic performance of it. Just because I can play the notes does not mean I can play the music well. I have played a Mozart Sonata In C and thought that I had done it  very well. My teacher them played for me a recording of Horowitz playing the same piece and I realized that I hadnt even begun to learn how to play Mozart properly. Just because I have the skill to play the notes , does not mean that I have the artistic ability to create something truly beautiful.

Thanks, Kelly

[hic]

          I say Mozart is like modern art...You have to feel and think real hard to REALIZE THE BEAUTY of "the thing" (or a Mozart music score?!?)
         
          It's harder than it looks!

[corollarium]

Everybody can learn to play right notes, not many understand the meaning of them.

I completely aggree. To play Mozart you need Soul, not any other unimportant things!!!

[corollarium]

Mozart is easier to learn, play, and perform than most other composers.  I'm sick of people's arguments saying he's 'musically' difficult.  That's so untrue.  I've got news for you: Rachmaninoff is incredibly musically difficult AND technically difficult.  Mozart features simple scalar lines and simple chords.  And I'm not talking out my ass either.. I have played a great deal of Mozart including several of his sonatas and two of his piano concerti (C major k 467 and B flat major k 595).  I open for dicussion..

My advice to you:
STOP LEARNING HOW TO PLAY PIANO, LEARN HOW TO FEEL THE MUSIC, HOW TO LISTEN TO IT!!! IT'S CLEAR THAT YOU DON'T KNOW ANY OF THESE!!!!!!!!!!

[counterpoint]

hard to play...  ?   easy to play... ?


Mozart is the most ugly music ever written


































... if played by a bad pianist 

[invictious]

Just to clarify my post more than a year ago"

Mozart:

Immature
Difficult exaggerated by people
Children's music
Predictable
interesting at first, boring later

Well his musical style NEVER matured since he was 4.

Unlike Mozzie, Beethoven's musical style matured, e.g. Appassionata.

However, wrong notes are very obvious in Mozzie's work

I was trolling and being sarcastic
Hope none of you thought i was being serious.

[elevateme_returns]

K533 is technically difficult.

[guendola]

Some posts on this discussion remind me of a small child saying "Smoke on the Water is the easiest song on guitar, but when I play it doesn't sound like the original at all, I need a new guitar".