Mozarts Fantasy in C minor

[pianowelsh]

Hi guys I'm learning this right now (literally) for a recital programme. I'm sure many of you have played it . Could you offer some of your experiences with this piece. My opinion is that it is really anything but a piano piece (I hear lots of wind serenades a bit of a string quartet and an aria seria and an aria buffa - and how he managed to qoute Chopins ballade 1 coda at the end I don't know but there we are!) Mechanically it's far from difficult but musically there is a lot of work in it and SO many varieties of touch and shading. ANY opinions advice suggestions would be appreciated

[m1469]

It is in charge, not you

Don't try to educate it nor capture it in any way
Don't try to keep ahead of it
Don't try to run from it
Don't try to understand it as a "finished" work
Don't expect to stop learning from it

Surrender to it
Let it possess you
Be willing to expand in every way as it discovers you
Love it dearly
Trust it faithfully
Protect it deeply
Share it very sparingly

Research it passionately
View it from many different angles
Let it be free in each and every repetition
Let it mold you, enhance and refine you

Please study the Sonata in C minor, K 457 along with it

It is not your job to show it off.  It will speak entirely for itself if you let it, and it will speak for you, as well.

Enjoy the ride,
m1469

[bernhard]

It is in charge, not you

Don't try to educate it nor capture it in any way
Don't try to keep ahead of it
Don't try to run from it
Don't try to understand it as a "finished" work
Don't expect to stop learning from it

Surrender to it
Let it possess you
Be willing to expand in every way as it discovers you
Love it dearly
Trust it faithfully
Protect it deeply
Share it very sparingly

Research it passionately
View it from many different angles
Let it be free in each and every repetition
Let it mold you, enhance and refine you

Please study the Sonata in C minor, K 457 along with it

It is not your job to show it off.  It will speak entirely for itself if you let it, and it will speak for you, as well.

Enjoy the ride,
m1469

Most beautiful

Here is a thread that discusses (superficially, I am afraid) this sonata:

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/msg17306

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[pianonut]

i agree withm1469and bernard.  not to try to play it with a preset notion of "how it should go."  now that i've practiced it many times, i still experiment.  try to make the beginning very connected.  very slow.  the slower the better, my teacher says.  i made it a happy medium (not so slow that it sounds choppy). 

it reminds me of so many things.  one is (the two statements at the beginning) of two alligators sauntering out behind one of those "curel" models.  it's so sneaky.  or, someone slowly opening a door.  i try to always practice enough with the metronome so that when this part is repeated, it is exactly the same tempo.  (that is what i listen for when other pianists play- that classical symmetry- and not overpassionate or underpassionate- but sort of relaxed, letting it happen as you feel it.

[maxy]

The Fantasy is not related to the C minor sonata.  Two different pieces.  Do work on the sonata for your own pleasure, but no need to look for "links" with the fantasy.  Many people feel that both pieces should be played together.  That is fine.  Except that these people very often try to impose their feeling as a rock solid truth... 

[musical_fingers]

haha! yeah i performed this in a series of recitals i did recently, so i guess your in the shoes i was....yes the notes are very easy, and the technique is not too tricky (except i was a bit messy on the piu allegro section,-dont let yourself get sore wrists there either!) yeah i found most of my practice was just trying to get it sound right, is very VERY difficult to play musically, like you have to be so careful with the pedaling and not to play the fortes too loud etc etc..um..what else, yeah the opening is really fun but dont get carried away and make it too romantic, i have this tendency to play the first note too loud!! but u gotta remember mozarts pianos didnt play loud!-well thats what i was told...but anyway best of luck...and in my recital, (u wanna know my experience!)..i actually started to daydream halfway thru the andantino section and swapped bars 103-107 and 112-115 oops!! so thats a trap..but hey! it was a pretty cool experience of a piece to play, cos it is such a rare unique piece...GOOD LUCK

[iwy42]

heh, m1469 what the h*ll?  i have never hears somebody talk about amuisc like that before.  i want to hear you waht's so special about it anyway?

[pianowelsh]

Thanks All I think it's safe to say Mozart is deceptively hard to play! I should say play well!!! - there's a vast difference and I do have to play it well as it's for my final exam - the very first piece in fact. Unfortunately I don't have time in the recital to play both the fantasy and sonata as I have other works I have to show too but I have studied the sonata in a kind of superficial way several years ago. The question I am facing really is whether to play it as an a 21st century interpreter or to tray and be faithfull aka Badura-skoda et al. My teacher firmly believes in the period performance school and is convinced it's written fro string quartet and must be very slow. I'm frankly not so sure. I agree with much of Badura skodas work but I feel there is more humour in this work than either he or my teacher give credit to. So many of the phrases particularly in the arietta smile and I firmly believe there is a strongly vocal element which can't be taken slower than it can be sung comfortably with good tone. If any of you have been there and resloved these questions I would love to know your thoughts 

[pianonut]

the piu allegro section IS difficult.  i am still (after a year) working on it to smooth it out.  my teacher says to maintain a crescendo past where YOU would normally put it.  i have a hard time doing this (makes my wrists sore) but it does give a sort of pre-beethovenish sound and a contrast of a STRONG section to the SOOTHING sections.  mozart is really into contrast.  you mentioned opera seria and buffa.  that's good!  i think on the pianos that he played, he didn't get the loud loud contrasts that we do--so as a previous post pointed out -- don't play too loud on the regular forte's.  it's a matter of taste.  and, whenever possible, make all your dynamics similar (forte's to forte's, piano to piano) in loudness or softness.

[pianowelsh]

Thanks pianonut