Luogo e data di registrazione		Lutheran Church, Haarlem (The Netherlands) - 31 October / 4 November 1996
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer / Recording supervisor		Wolf Erichson
	Recording Engineer / Editing		Stephan Schellmann (Tritonus)
	Assistant Engineer		Karsten Renz (Tritonus)
	Prima Edizione LP		-
	Prima Edizione CD		Sony / Vivarte - S2K 62 879 - (2 CDs) - durata 71' 25" & 66' 26" - (p) 1997 - DDD
	Cover Art		Mozart am Klavier by Joseph Lange - Kunsthistorisches Museum, Wien
	Note		-

Considering all the forms in which the young Mozart wrote - church music, operas, symphonies, divertimenti, concertos, even sonatas for four hands at the piano - he came rather late to the piano sonata. His first six in the form, K. 279-284 (189d-189h and 205b), were written for himself, in preparation for, and during his sojourn in, Munich when he was completing his Italian opera, La finta giardiniera, in January 1775. Later in his career, Mozart wrote not only for himself, sometimes inviting us to participate in his joys and sorrows as if we were a personal friend - but also for pupils. Some of these “teaching” sonatas are late works, such as the deceptively simple Sonata in C major, K. 545. Sometimes we are privileged to eavesdrop on a written-out improvisation, such as the magnificent “Phantasie” in C minor, K. 475, which he later attached to the Sonata K. 457. His last Sonata in D major, K. 576, was composed in July 1789 in Vienna as the first of a projected set of six for Princess Friederike of Prussia. So Mozart's piano sonatas may be justly described as representative crossesections of his hopes, loves, aspirations and tragedies (what more magnificent expression of the latter than the B minor Adagio composed in that incredible year 1788, which also included the Adagio and Fugue for strings, K. 546, and the last three symphonies). Sonata in C minor, K. 457 Fantasie in C minor, K. 475 Mozart's most ambitious and large-scale work for solo piano, these two monumental pieces were composed in reverse order: the Sonata was entered in Mozart's catalogue on October 14, 1784,while the “Phantasie” (as he called it) was entered on May 20, 1785. Both were united in the first edition by Artaria and Company, published in December 1785 and dedicated to Mozart's pupil, Madame Therese von Trattner, the wife of Mozart's landlord at that time. The title was “Fantaisie et Sonate Pour le Forte-Piano [...] Œuvre XI”. The Fantasie probably represents the kind of bold improvisation with which Mozart used to hold his audiences enthralled, and which, in its advanced structure, daring modulations and dramatic force, looks forward to Beethoven. Its use of C minor recalls other stirring music in this key - the Serenade for wind band (K. 388), later transcribed by Mozart for string quintet in 1787 (K. 406), and, most of all, the piano concerto, K. 491. The very opening of the ensuing Sonata (K. 457) might have been the dashing sally of a grand concerto or symphony in C minor, that key which, since Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, has been generally regarded as being of especially fateful moment. Minuet in D major, K. 355 (576b) There is an interesting anecdote found in Rudiments of Thorough Bass by William Shield, London 1815, where this Minuet - without Trio - was published in full. Shield notes “The above Composition and anecdote were presented to me by an estimable brother Professor, whose merit and truth have cemented Gratitude and Friendship. I have therefore published them with confidence.” The anecdote is as follows: “To the honour of that great Musician,who has produced so many of the modern Composer's archetypes, it should be mentioned, that he was as much entitled to esteem, for Benevolence, as admiration for his Genius; He had as our immortal Bard expresses it, 'A tear for pity, and a hand open as the day, for melting Charity', but unhappily that want of prudence, and attention, to the painful minuteness of necessary economy, often deprived him of power, to indulge the feelings of his Heart, by administering to the appeals of misfortune. A singular incident of this nature, occurred to him, as follows: As he was walking one day, near the suburbs of Vienna, he was accosted by a Mendicant, of a very prepossessing appearance, and manner, who told his tale of woe,with such effect, as to interest M. strongly in his favour; But the state of his purse, not being correspondent with the impulse of humanity, he desired the Applicant to follow him to a Coffee House. As soon as they entered the House, M. drew some music paper from his pocket, and in a few minutes composed the Menuet, which is annexed to this Memoir, which with a Letter, from himself, he gave to the distressed Man, desiring him to take them to his Publisher, who resided in the City. A Composition from M. was a Bill payable at sight, and the happy Beggar was immediately presented in return for the MS. to his great surprize, with five Double Ducats.” - This short but pungently cromatic Minuet has lang occupied a place of special affection among lovers of the composer, as has: Rondo in D major, K. 485 This celebrated piece was signed and dated at the end of the autograph “Mozart mpr. le 10 de janvier 1786 à Vienne.”, when the composer was in the middle of his opera Le nozze di Figaro (completed on April 29, 1786). Mozart composed the rondo for his friend and Masonic brother Franz Anton Hoffmeister who published it in Vienna the very same year. The dedication to Countess Würben on the autograph has been erased and is no longer legible. Although Hoffmeister entitled his first edition “Rondo très facile”, it is not all that simple and is indeed a composition of great sophistication. The theme was taken from a work by J. C. Bach, who had recently (1782) died in London and had been much admired by Mozart. Some of Bach`s easy and elegant style seems to have entered this delightful music. Sonata in F major, K. 533 Rondo in F major, K. 494 Mozart wrote this beautiful and superior Sonata backwards: he first wrote the Finale, which he entitled in his thematic catalogue “Ein kleines Rondo für das Klavier allein” (K. 494), i.e. a small rondo for solo piano. It was probably intended to form part of a cycle of rondo movements for piano, of which the two others were K. 485 in D major and K. 511 in A minor. K. 494 was, however, published separately, by Philipp Heinrich Bossler in Speyer in 1787. Then, under the date January 3, 1788, Mozart entered the first two movements of the Sonata in his catalogue as “Ein Allegro und Andante für das Klavier allein”; he then attached the previous rondo and published all three with Hoffmeister in the early part of 1788. In the process Mozart rewrote the Finale, adding bars 143-169, a kind of cadenza. Despite the chronological differences between the beginning and the end of the work, Mozart succeeded in creating a unified whole of great beauty and charm. The first movement bears chains of legato slurs, so that the opening theme might even sound like a transcription of a string piece: against this undulating pattern, Mozart brilliantly sets off cascading eighth-note triplets which dominate most of the second part of the exposition. And notice how these two widely disparate elements are artfully combined in the development section. There is both infinite repose (the beginning) and infinite movement (those many descending arpeggios in sixteenth notes) in the Andante, where there are again no dynamic marks whatsoever in the first edition. And the Rondo is, like its partners in D major and A minor, of an amazingly subtle construction - that which in eighteenth-century French used to be called “une facture étonnante” - down to the surprise ending of pianissimo. Fantasie in D minor, K. 397 (385g) This impressive and sombre Fantasie, the autograph of which is no longer extant, seems to have been written in about 1782 and first published (posthumously) in 1804, with, however, the last ten bars as we know them missing. The traditional ending comes from the Breitkopf & Härtel edition of 1806. This was apparently the kind of improvisation for which Mozart was so famous, and it is fortunate that we have it and K. 475 as a kind of witness to this lost Mozartian tradition. Rondo in A minor, K. 511 This extraordinary piece was completed, as the autograph attests, “Rondò di W. A. Mozart li 11 Marzo1787”. It was announced by Hoffmeister for August 1786, but publication was delayed until April 1787, - in other words, Mozart was late to finish the commission. Sonata in C major, K. 545 Mozart entered this work under the date June 26, 1788 in his catalogue with the description, “Eine kleine Klavier Sonate für anfänger” - a small piano sonata for beginners, which later became known as the “Sonata facile” when it was posthumously published by the Bureau des Arts et d'lndustrie in Vienna in 1805. As in many such teaching works, there are no dynamic marks in the first edition (nor were there any in the comparable work by Beethoven published in Vienna that very same year: the Sonatas Op. 49 No. 1 and especially No. 2, intended for the same grade of pupil). This is a deceptively simple sonata, but one of incomparable mastery. Looking forward to Schubert, the recapitulation of the first movement begins in the subdominant (F major), so that the home key is not established until the entry of the second subject. It would have been an interesting topic of conversation with a very young but eager pupil. Nor is the gravely beautiful Andante a mere teaching exercise, though it is clear that Mozart wanted his pupil to learn a supple manner of execution for the so-called Alberti-bass patterns which persist almost throughout. The Finale is rather like a Haydn rondo, and the similarity extends to a typically Haydnesque brevity of thought and deed. Adagio in B minor, K. 540 Entered into Mozart's autograph thematic catalogue as “Ein Adagio für das Klavier allein, in H mol.” and dated March 19, 1788, this deeply felt and rather improvisatory work is, as stated above, one of the witnesses to the composers profound depression of 1788.It was published the same year by Hoffmeister. Nothing is otherwise known about the origin of this bleak Adagio - why and for whom was it composed? Sonata in B flat major, K. 570 This sonata was entered into Mozart's own catalogue of works as having been composed in the month of  February 1789. It is there entitled “Eine Sonate auf Klavier allein”, i. e. for piano solo, which makes it astonishing that the first edition, which Artaria & Co. in Vienna issued posthumously in 1796, contained a violin part as well. Nowadays this violin part is regarded as spurious. There is no mention of this popular sonata in Mozart`s correspondence, and we have no idea why it was written - presumably for a fairly advanced piano pupil, for the music is by no means easy of execution. The autograph manuscript for the first movement has survived (British Library, London), but not the other two movements, for the textual accuracy of which we are dependent on the first edition by Artaria (supra). It is curious that in this first edition there are .tbsolutely no dynamic marks whatsoever in the last two movements except for a final piano (bar 85) and forte (last bar) of the Finale. The tempo marking “Adagio” for the slow movement, so rare in Mozart (compared, for example, to Haydn), shows that an especially serious and grave music tnay be expected: the characteristically Mozartian chromatic lines take on a curious poignancy here. The Finale has an oblique kind of force, especially in the section at bars 45ff where the right hand has repeated quavers (later in the left hand): the music is almost like one of the rugged symphonies which Viennese composers were writing in the 1770s. But there is, throughout this sonata, a certain kind of impersonality which we find in other works of this bleak period in Mozart`s life - 1789 and 1790. We may surely assume that he took this work on tour when he visited Prague, Dresden, Berlin and Leipzig later in the year 1789 - a largely unsuccessful visit, financially. Sonata in D major, K. 576 When he visited Berlin and Potsdam in 1789, Mozart seems to have agreed to compose three string quartets for the King, Friedrich Wilhelm II, who was a good amateur cellist, and six easy sonatas for the royal daughter, Princess Friederike of Prussia. Mozart completed the three quarters and refers to the six sonatas in a letter to his fellow Mason, Michael Puchberg, on July 12-14, 1789, but in the event he completed only one of the sonatas, that in D major, K. 576, which he entered in his thematic catalogue as “im Iullius. Eine Sonate auf Klavier allein”. It turned out to be Mozart's final piano sonata. The sonata has always been a popular work. It was not published until 1805 but immediately became one of his best loved works for the piano. It is obviously composed in a light and popular style, as indeed the string quartets for Prussia were composed in quite a different manner from those he had written for Haydn in the early 1780s. In this respect, there is a certain similarity between the “easy” style of Mozart's “Coronation” Concerto in D major, K. 537, and the Sonata in the same key. He had come a long way from the agonized personal language of the C minor Concerto for piano, K. 491, and the Fantasie and Sonata in the same key (K. 475 and K. 457). It was not until 1791 that he was able to reconcile the popular and the learned with such works as the Clarinet Concerto, Ave verum corpus and the last two operas (The Magic Flute and La clemenza di Tito). Fantasie in C minor, K. 396 (385f) This moody and dark-hued work began life in about 1782 as the beginning (Adagio) of a sonata for piano and violin. Mozart's autograph, once owned by Goethe, is now in the Goethe and Schiller Archives in Weimar. The fragment stops at the double bar, and after Mozart's death it was completed for piano solo by Maximilian Stadler and published by Jean (Giovanni) Cappi in 1802 as “Fantaisie pour le Clavecin ou Pianoforte dediée à Mad. Constanze Mozart.” It has always been regarded as a striking example of Mozart's early Viennese years - bold, original and concise even though the technique is clearly improvisatory. © 1993 H. C. Robbins Landon The Clarke Fortepiano No. 17 (Collection Immerseel-Chevallier) In his Nuova invenziane, published in 1711, Scipione Maffei maintained that, since the technique required for playing the fortepiano was different from that used with earlier keyboard instruments, it was therefore necessary to adopt a new method of fingering. The new sound producer, the hammer, did indeed greatly increase the expressive possibilities available to the pianist, but it also gave instrument makers and players alike a few headaches when they attempted to put these new possibilities into practice. For instance, when the tension is relatively low, the hammer must activate the string without, however, acting as a damper, something which is only possible with an extremely fast, rotating finger movement. With his Viennese, check-rail action, Anton Walter (1752-1826) succeeded in getting the string to vibrate more freely. Further advantages of the Walter action lay in its offering the pianist greater scope for dynamic differentiation, in making it easier for him to perform arpeggios, and in improving the inclusion of the resonance register. And as the player, on attack, only needed to depress the key a very short way, he found he had a wholly new range of possibilities for introducing embellishments into his “musical speech”. The difference between legato and staccato could be brought out more clearly than on other keyboard instruments and the richer sonority as well as new tonal registers made up a whole world of expressive possibilities that had been hitherto unknown. When properly played, the fortepiano of Walter`s design is ideally suited to performance in smaller halls, though, even in larger venues, the sound it produces carries well. It is also an instrument that is eminently suitable for accompanying lieder in intimate surroundings, yet equally capable of sustaining a dialogue with an orchestra, as Mozart knew from his Akademien (concerts). And it was precisely this versatility that Mozart valued so highly, a fact which no doubt encouraged him to write no fewer than 21 solo concertos, a great deal of chamber music with piano,a large number of sonatas and other piano pieces for two and four hands. Mozart's Walter pianoforte, which at that time represented the very latest in the art of piano-building, must have given the composer a great deal of pleasure, just as Christopher Clarke's superb reproduction gives me pleasure today, too. Clarke, the most famous pianoforte-builder of today, built this wonderful instrument in 1988, specially for the performance of the complete Mozart pianoforte concertos with the orchestra “Anima Eterna” during the 1990-91 season. Christopher Clarke`s commentary in 1988: “The instrument is based on the example conserved in the Germanisches National-Museum, Nuremberg (MINe 109),with additional data collated from several other Walter instruments of the same period in public and private collections. The frame of fir, oak and sycamore, is built with dovetail joints at cheek and tailboard: the belly rail is mortised into the spine. The bentside is built up according to Walter's special system, a laminated rim supported by hardwood forks mortised into the bottomboards.The soundboard, of selected Swiss spruce, is accurately thicknessed and ribbed in conformity to the original. The strings, other than in the bass, are of iron, which gives the proper balance of harmonics (steel strings are too rich in high harmonics, giving an 'edgy' sound). The action is accurately copied from Walter's, using identical materials and construction throughout. Walter introduced the use of low-friction metal Kapseln (the forks in which the hammers pivot) and a check rail to catch the hammers after they have struck the strings. This produced an action of much greater dynamic range and faster repetition than its predecessors. Walter exploited these advances further by placing a heavier bridge on the soundboard and increasing the string tension. The result was a fuller, more powerful sonority which opened up new possibilities to composers of the late 18th century. The hammers are covered with antelope leather, and the dampers are also covered with soft deer and elk leather, as on the original instrument. The use of leather for the dampers is almost as important as its use for the hammers in the production of a characteristic sound: the ending of a tone is as important as the beginning. The keyboard, the 'point of entry' to the instrument, is in ebony and bone, copied minutely from Walter's. The compass of the instrument is 5 octaves and two keys (FF-g'"). The length is 221 cm with lid, the width 102 cm with lid the height of the case 28 cm with lid and the overall height is 83 cm with lid. The weight is approximately 70 kg. “My overall aim was to provide the player with an instrument which differs from a genuine Walter only in its age and in the name above the keyboard. This aim is pursued to the smallest detail, constructional or visual, in the hope of providing a coherent impression of meeting a fortepiano fresh from an 18th -century Viennese workshop, and of building an instrument as robust as its 200-year-old forebears.” Jos van Immerseel / ©1988 Christopher Clarke