Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Keyboard Works. Fragments and Rarities
Vijay Venkatesh (piano)
rec. 2021, Zipper Hall, Colburn School, Los Angeles, USA
Naxos 8.574422 [71]
For so prolific a composer, and one celebrated in his lifetime as a virtuoso pianist, Mozart’s surviving output for the keyboard is comparatively slender. It’s intriguing, for instance, that eighteen sonatas survive, as compared with more than fifty by Haydn, who was not a noted solo performer. The reason surely lies mainly in the fact that, as a remarkable improviser with a formidable memory, Mozart didn’t necessarily need to write down music for his own instrument.
The collection of fragments and rarities gathered together here offers a glimpse into Mozart’s inventiveness at the keyboard in a series of minor works, that are rarely more than sketches or musical doodles, offcuts from the working studio of a major composer. Although not a comprehensive survey, nor presented here exactly chronologically, the pieces featured stem from most phases of Mozart’s life, including the very first that he composed, and set down in writing by his father at around the time of his fifth birthday. Incidentally, the works in this programme are identified by their listing in the recently revised Köchel catalogue, where the numbers now extend beyond 626 for rediscovered compositions that were not included in earlier editions, and the numbering of works included in earlier editions is simplified. Former K numbers are included in square brackets in the contents listing below, where relevant, since these rare compositions are some of the most difficult to pin down.
The most substantial items here are the handful of pieces that could have been expanded into full multi-movement sonatas and survive essentially complete, or were completed without much original composition by Maximilian Stadler – K400; the eccentric late Minuet K355 with a mazurka-like Trio by Stadler; and K312. Vijay Venkatesh concludes the disc by interpolating the Variations K54 within the two sections of K547a – which themselves relate to the Sonatas K545 and K547 – to form a short three movement sonata. The work with perhaps the most intriguing provenance here is the Molto allegro or ‘Veronser’ Allegro, transcribed from its only known source in the portrait of the 14-year-old composer made at Verona. The manuscript on the keyboard stand is depicted in such fine detail that it is possible to read off the notes, but it’s only assumed that Mozart wrote the piece, and there is no other definite evidence. K395 is misleadingly described as ‘Four Preludes’ despite constituting a single through-composed work with several contrasting sections, and otherwise generally known as a Capriccio.
There are no premiere recordings here as all the pieces feature in the Mozart 225 New Complete Edition. Those who didn’t make or still don’t fancy the considerable outlay for that huge box, and didn’t invest in the earlier Complete Mozart Edition on Philips either, which contains only some of the items here, but are still curious about this obscure area of Mozart’s output will find this a far cheaper and accessible prospect to collect some pieces they very probably haven’t encountered elsewhere. Furthermore, it complements an earlier Naxos release (8.573114) of other fragments and rarities played by Sang Woo Kang.
As the majority of pieces here are too short or fragmentary to allow for much musical development, Venkatesh’s performances aren’t overloaded with any more consequence or portentousness than the music can bear. Nevertheless, they are played with the same poise and finesse as would be expected in Mozart’s larger compositions for keyboard. Dynamics, expression, emphasis or rubato are subtly added as appropriate to enliven the music. Notably assertive moments are the strange harmonies of the Minuet K355 which are lent into, and there is a volatile fury in the faster sections of K395 which look ahead to Beethoven, even as it draws upon the Baroque stylus phantasticus manner. But Venkatesh doesn’t allow these to unbalance the whole composition.
More sustained works are defined by a crisp articulation in their melodies – the Minuets K315a and the Sonata K547a being good examples especially the filigree demisemiquaver line in the final variation of the latter’s middle movement. The simple, very early pieces by the child composer are not condescended to but approached with a loving reverence for the genius that he would become; even the unfinished Andante K9b is rendered with an affecting vocal-like melody as though an aria.
None of these are significant works that make for essential listening. But for serious Mozart enthusiasts and completists, the disc offers a fascinating glimpse into the workings of his mind, as though we are peering over his shoulder as he tries out some first or purely private musical thoughts.
Curtis Rogers
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Contents
Allegro in B flat major, K400
Minuet in D major, K Anh H24, No. 18 [K94/K73h]
Andante in C major, K1a
Allegro in C major, K1b
Allegro in F major, K1c
Minuet in F major, K1d
Minuet in G major, K1, No. 1 [K1e]
Minuet in C major, K1, No. 2 [K1f]
Minuet in F major, K2
Allegro in B flat major, K3
Minuet in F major, K4
Minuet in F major, K5
Piece in F major, K Anh A6 [K33B]
Allegro in C major, K9a
Andante in B flat major, K9b
Minuet in D major, K355
8 Minuets, K315a
Four Preludes, K395 [K284a]
Allegro in G minor, K312
Klavierstück in B flat major, K629, No. 1 [K Anh 20a/K626b/25]
Adagio in B minor, K. 708 [K deest]
Piano Sonata in B flat major, K569a [K Anh. 31]
Piano Sonata in F major, K590a [K Anh 29]
Piano Sonata in F major, K590b [K Anh 30]
Rondo in F major, K590c [K Anh. 37]
Sonatensatz in C major, K. 656
Allegro in G major, K. 72a
Minuet in D major, K385h, No. 2 [K576a/K Anh 34, No. 2]
Sonata in F major, K547a [K Anh 135]
6 Variations, K54 [K547b/K Anh 138a]
