Mozart Sonata in C major KV 330

[emill]

Hi,

I am posting this for my son who just turned 11.  In less than 2 weeks
he will  audition  for a national piano festival to be held early February/07. 
Since it is the 250th for Mozart, the organizers would prefer his compositions. 
A spur of the moment decision to enter was made early November or barely six
weeks ago; but his teacher says he is psychologically strong, has good drive and
skills and the experience will do him well.

Although, the 3 movements will be played if he qualifies in the 11-14 age bracket,
he will only be required to play one movement in the audition.  May we request
some constructive comments in order to improve his chances or are we rushing
this a bit?  Btw, he is a fast learner and has the 3 movements memorized and
played fairly well (I think) at this time. 

Thanks a lot and I will ask him to answer any question you may want answered.

Here is the 1st movement: 

[teresa_b]

Hi,

Enzo continues to be a wonderful pianist!  He is doing great with Mozart, and should do very well in February. 

My suggestions (and I have personal preferences that others may disagree with, of course)--

He has the notes down well, so now he might focus on beautiful phrasing.  Where is the melody line going, how should the LH accompany the RH, etc.  I think he plays some of the LH accompaniment a little too prominently and staccato in some areas.  More legato and a bit softer LH would allow the lovely melody in the RH to flow gracefully.   

K330 has a lot of little dynamic shifts and changes that make it a bit difficult to get a nice cohesive flowing quality.  Once he has the dynamics, maybe he could think in terms of the whole movement.

I feel Mozart is being rather playful here, so you don't want anything to sound forced.  I think Enzo will do beautifully--he is after all, a kid, and who better to play Mozart effortlessly?

best of luck!
Teresa

[emill]

Thanks ... Teresa

  Surely there must be a lot to improve on ...
Although he has an excellent tutor, it is always better
to hear the views of others.
 
Common guys, some help here ...
the audition is already next Thursday.

[teresa_b]

Hi,
This is to wish Enzo the best of luck, and to encourage others to have a listen and give any suggestions thay might have, as his audition is coming up.

Teresa

[kartman]

Wow, just as with his other vids, I think this recording shows that Enzo is a very talented piano player!

I wondered: how far is he with learning this piece? Is he at a point where he's still learning the piece, so everytime he plays it he learns something new and gets better? Or is he at the point where he and his tutor are reasonably satisfied with the piece?
If it's the first situation, I think we should be careful with giving our advice, since it might interfere a bit with the plans of his tutor. Unlike his tutor, we only hear one recording of someone we don't really know.

Anyhow:
A thing that could be improved is the tempo I think:
The middle section (3:30 - 4:30) is played slower than the first part and the last part. Did the tutor let him do that on purpose? It's an expressive part of the piece, so there should be some room for interpretation and rubato. However, I think this difference in tempo is just too big for a Mozart piece. It sounds a bit strange to me how he suddenly increases the tempo so much at 4:30.

And also, within the first part, some phrases are played slower than other phrases: for example the phrases at 1:38 - 1:40 and 1:42 - 1:46. Slowdown is just a bit too much for my likings.

I think the bass notes at 0:32 and 2:19 are a bit too loud. They could be a bit softer and more controlled.

I agree with Teresa's impression that the left hand could be more legato (might also be an interpretation thing, however I feel the same way about it).

For the rest: don't get the impression that I think he played it badly! I'm very impressed by his playing at this young age! In some parts his melody line sounds better and more fluent than how I can play it (i posted a recording of this same piece a couple weeks ago). I wish him good luck in the audition!

[emill]

Thanks kartman ....

I wondered: how far is he with learning this piece? Is he at a point where he's still learning the piece, so everytime he plays it he learns something new and gets better? Or is he at the point where he and his tutor are reasonably satisfied with the piece?

He is still in the stage of learning the piece which he started late October together with   Iberia-Evocacion.  Although he can play the 3 movements more or less from memory by now, they are still in the process of refining the playing. 

I have asked him to look into your and Teresa's suggestions and he seems to have modified the phrasing a bit. I am sure he will discuss those with his tutor as he has always done in the past from the suggestions of others.

Once again, many thanks for the inputs.....