Mozart K.545 Sonata

[richardparkokay]

Hello!
My name is Richard
I am learning the K.545 sonata by Mozart. Namely,  the first movement, if that is the correct term. I'm planning to do the entire sonata but the first one is already causing me some issues. Please help me out.

First, the technical errors. In the 11th measure, I can't seem to play the 16th notes clearly on my left hand. In addition, I seem to speed up a bit when I play the notes. It feels.. unstable? For my right hand, I'm having trouble phrasing. There are slurs present in the eighth notes and when I lift on the B and D it sounds like staccato.
Also, after that, in the 15th and 17th measure, when I try to trill the G-F# it doesn't sound neat.. Not to mention my hand has some difficulty playing the trill. Should I change the fingering or stick to the original fingering? It is originally 4-3.
After the trills, measure 18th to 21, my  phrasing seems very awkward, the lifts and transitions between the right to left and left to right. How do I make it sound more beautiful?
How do I add more energy and passion to the piece? What kind of mood is this song supposed to create? I know this is Mozart, so I'm thinking light, bright, and vigilant?
How about common trouble spots I should be aware of?

Thank you !!

Richard

[rmbarbosa]

Hi Richard, wellcome!
Despite his apparent simplicity, Mozart is not easy to play.At least, to play well.
This first mouvement is made with scales, harps and trills.
In Mozart, the scales are suposed to be played "detache". Try to play them slow and gradually increase the spead.
One way to gain spead in scales is the parallell sets, described by Mr. Shuan Chang in his book "the piano practice". You may download it, free, in the Net.
But, with PS, we gain speed but not eveness. When I was young, I used to play the scales like this: 1231 (cdef) 10 times; 12312 (cdefg) 10 times; 1231234 (cdefgab) 10 times; and so on... Here, we can try to play fast.
In order to gain the "detache", you may wish to play the scales finger stacato or finger non legato.
The ties: when you play the last note in the tie, you must lift your wrist when leaving the key. You have a video of Graham Fisch in youtube, showing how to do this. The same with Ilinca Vartic; she has some vídeos not paid where she explains this mouvement of the wrist.
Trills: the same as scales - PS: first, you play 2 fingers same time; then, you lift a little one of the fingers and let them fall into the 2 keys; then, the same with the other finger; many times.
Then, 1-2-1 very fast (many times); 1-2-1-2; 2-1-2-1; 1-2-1-2-1-2, 2-1-2-1-2-1 and so on. For thrill eveness, you may play CDC/DCD/CDC....(triads) increasing speed gradually... Trills with 4-5 fingers ou even 3-4 fingers are not very easy. When possible, try 1-3, 1-4 or 2-4. Trills with 2-3 are possible but the lenght of theese two fingers is different and there`s a natural tendency to make the trill uneven.
I must apologize my English, because I`m portuguese, not a native.
I hope this may help you.
Best wishes
Rui

[richardparkokay]

One way to gain spead in scales is the parallell sets, described by Mr. Shuan Chang in his book "the piano practice". You may download it, free, in the Net.

Parallel sets? I've looked them up but now I'm left in confusion.. I'm not sure how to use the sets and am quite frankly not sure how they work..? I might actually get the book, through the internet results it seems like the book is considered important if not fundamental to fruitful practice. If you don't mind, could you explain a little more about this parallel set subject more briefly to me?
I'll definitely keep in mind lifting the wrist more.. The Vartic video is very helpful, thank you for showing me that!

[toughbo]

Might get the book?! Dude, the entire book is free: https://www.pianofundamentals.com/book/en/chapter_1

Read slowly, try to understand the concepts one at a time, then apply it one at a time until it becomes second nature and you know what to do when listening to yourself and you hear something is off.