Mozart: Complete Clavier Works, Vol. 3 (2006)

Whether it is preferable in music of the eighteenth century to use a piano or one of the keyboard instruments from back in the day remains a favorite subject of dispute among lovers of music of the Baroque and Classical eras. There is no "right" answer, but in the case of Mozart, an indefatigable correspondent, there is some information (summarized in the booklet here) as to when he first encountered the fortepiano, the direct ancestor of the modern piano. It was likely during his trip to Mannheim in 1777, and among his ... Read More

Whether it is preferable in music of the eighteenth century to use a piano or one of the keyboard instruments from back in the day remains a favorite subject of dispute among lovers of music of the Baroque and Classical eras. There is no "right" answer, but in the case of Mozart, an indefatigable correspondent, there is some information (summarized in the booklet here) as to when he first encountered the fortepiano, the direct ancestor of the modern piano. It was likely during his trip to Mannheim in 1777, and among his responses to his discovery was the dynamically active Sonata in D major, K. 311, heard on this disc, which is filled with effects evoking those familiar to hearers of Mannheim's famed court orchestra. The works on this disc, part of a complete series of Mozart's keyboard music undertaken by German historical keyboard specialist Siegbert Rampe, straddle the 1777 date. All are persuasively assigned to the instruments on which they may well have originally been performed. Two piano sonatas... Read Less