Philips 468 048-2

reviewed by Christopher Coleman
for RTHK Radio 4

Track 7: beginning--1:56

In this wonderful collection of four of Mozart’s later piano works, Alfred Brendel brings us the pinnacle of the high Classic style. This is Brendel’s home, the literature with which he has made his reputation and on which he is concentrating in this, his 70th year. This particular CD unites the sonatas in F major and Bb major, K. 332 and 333, with the sonata in C minor K. 457 and the Adagio in B minor, K. 540. Interestingly, although the Köchel catalogue of Mozart’s works puts these two major key sonatas near the middle of his output, the CD notes tell us that they are more likely later works. Certainly a musical examination of the pieces show Mozart at his most sophisticated and imaginative. Here is the opening of K. 333, a piece with which all of my students at Hong Kong Baptist University are intimately familiar.

What elegant music this is! Every aspect of composition, from melody and accompaniment through harmony, rhythm, and texture are treated in a refined and graceful manner. My study of Mozart has lead me to an ever-increasing appreciation for his vast talent, and even after teaching this same piece for years I still find marvellous new details. Compare, for example, the opening of the first movement to this second movement of the same sonata. Listen for fragments of themes from the first movement reappearing transformed in this slow movement.

And although very refined, this music has a real sense of drama as well. In the opening of the F major sonata Mozart follows the reserved first theme with a sudden lurch into the relative minor and a complete contrast in dynamics, melody, harmony, rhythm and texture. The second theme, which begins with an extremely refined melody, contains an excursion into a musical world without melody, in which harmony, dynamic contrast and rhythm are the sole focus--modern listeners may find themselves momentarily reminded of a tango, although of course that would not have been Mozart’s intention. The whole of the movement demonstrates compositional mastery of the highest sort, in which the listener’s expectations are established then resolved in unexpected but completely appropriate ways. It’s as if Mozart breaks the compositional "rules" in order to demonstrate the very purpose of those rules.

Alfred Brendel’s performance matches Mozart’s music perfectly. Although there are different interpretations of this music--some faster, some slower, some with more Romantic exaggeration, some more reserved, there are none better. Every note seems perfectly considered, and Brendel’s sense of musical line, his delicate shadings of tempo and his subtle pianistic touch make these performances an unqualified success. Let’s close now with the second movement of K. 332.