BaL 24.11.12 & 19.10.13 Mozart's Piano Sonata no. 8 in A minor (K.310)

[ostuni]

a short piece such as this should allow for some interesting detailed comparisons.

Yes - a nice counterbalance to last week's not very successful attempt to squeeze too much into too little!

[hafod]

My much loved Carmen Piazzini set isn't listed...not sure if its currently listed by any record company, though it can be bought via amazon.

Piazzini's K310 is CD34 in the 40cd Mozart Premium Edition. (It is the set I have for the car which is the only reason why I know this). It is currently available direct from Amazon for £10.99. The set has the full set of sonatas and piano concertos - the latter also with Piazzini.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mozart-Premium-Edition-40CD-W-A/dp/B000FII1T4/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=27ULCC5T3Y4NJ&coliid=I3KA9EKQ6JMBLV

[verismissimo]

I have Klien (always good), Ranki and Uchida in K310. Will review!

BTW Stephen Plaistow is No 1 in my BAL book.

[verismissimo]

I have Klien (always good), Ranki and Uchida in K310. Will review!

BTW Stephen Plaistow is No 1 in my BAL book.

I've been thinking about why it is that I much prefer Klien to Uchida in this sonata, and I think that, aside from the fact that his playing is exquisite, the sound of his recording is so much warmer (1964). Whereas the Uchida from Decca (1984), presumably played on a large modern Steinway, is bright and cold and hard.

[ostuni]

Klien's piano, I'm sure, was every bit as large and modern as Uchida's...

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

In preparation for today's BaL, I sat down at the piano and played through this sonata. It was one one my Grade 8 pieces in 1967. What a superb work it is, sounding quite magnificent on a modern piano.

[Nick Armstrong]

BTW Stephen Plaistow is No 1 in my BAL book.

Mine too!

[EdgeleyRob]

In preparation for today's BaL, I sat down at the piano and played through this sonata. It was one one my Grade 8 pieces in 1967. What a superb work it is, sounding quite magnificent on a modern piano.

[Keraulophone]

In preparation for today's BaL, I sat down at the piano and played through this sonata. It was one one my Grade 8 pieces in 1967. What a superb work it is, sounding quite magnificent on a modern piano.

Funny, I was going to do the same after the test match coverage from Mumbai was over, but now having heard the magnificent Richard Goode, I don't feel quite so confident!

[Nick Armstrong]

In preparation for today's BaL, I sat down at the piano and played through this sonata. It was one one my Grade 8 pieces in 1967. What a superb work it is, sounding quite magnificent on a modern piano.

Hats off Alpie if you can still play the pieces you did for exams! How did you fare in that last movement?

What an absorbing review, classic Plaistow I thought. The 'early instrument' contingent will probably consider themselves short-changed, but I'm not one of them I have to say. The stand-outs for me as he went through the examples were Schnabel, Goode and Pires, in addition to the Uchida which I own.

It raised yet again in my mind the question mentioned in a recent thread here about Mozart Piano Concertos... why to my ears are Uchida's Mozart concerto recordings so much - so very much - less successful than her sonata recordings? One answer to that question was re-emphasised for me by the extracts this morning: it's the quality of the louder notes in Mozart, especially the way a sudden loud note is handled. Some pianists seem to be able to play Mozart 'forte' or more especially 'sforzato' without heavy harshness, without banging: as Stephen Plaistow said, making the sound work for them and for the music. Pires, Perahia, and Uchida in the sonatas seem to be able to do that. (Andras Schiff is another one who does it, live - I think he was ill-served by the sound engineers and recording choices in his Mozart, I hated the sound of his version.) But what I really dislike is a 'banging' sort of attack in loud passages and especially on accented notes.... whether in some of the other examples this morning, or in the Uchida concerto recording played on CD Review last week (one passage where there is a sort of 'walking bass' towards the end of the first movement of K467 was banged out in a really irritating, ugly way). Uchida never does that in her sonata recordings...

[HighlandDougie]

But what I really dislike is a 'banging' sort of attack in loud passages, whether in some of the other examples this morning, or in the Uchida concerto recording played on CD Review last week (one passage where there is a sort of 'walking bass' towards the end of the first movement of K467 was banged out in a really irritating, ugly way). Uchida never does that in her sonata recordings...

I know exactly what you mean, Caliban. I'm struggling rather with that concerto disc, although I'm mellowing to it after the third hearing. I sometimes wonder if it's because she's directing as well as playing. Another pianist whom I heard in the two roles - could it have been in a concert with Piotr Anderszewski? - was another example of over-exaggerated emphasis usually with the left hand. But I'm straying well off-topic here ....

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Funny, I was going to do the same after the test match coverage from Mumbai was over, but now having heard the magnificent Richard Goode, I don't feel quite so confident!

Why do you think I played it before the programme?

[Don Petter]

I'm afraid I wasn't at all impressed with the Uchida. It sounded brash, as if she was trying to play in a Beethovenian rage.

But then I'm not that enamoured with the work, and also now feel I've heard enough Mozart for another year, at least.

[Nick Armstrong]

I know exactly what you mean, Caliban. I'm struggling rather with that concerto disc, although I'm mellowing to it after the third hearing. I sometimes wonder if it's because she's directing as well as playing. Another pianist whom I heard in the two roles - could it have been in a concert with Piotr Anderszewski? - was another example of over-exaggerated emphasis usually with the left hand. But I'm straying well off-topic here ....

I'll reactivate the concerto thread... That's really interesting, HD!

[Keraulophone]

...I've heard enough Mozart for another year, at least.