Mozart • Sonatas K. 333, K. 282 & K. 330 Complete Sonatas Vol. 3

Description

In 1817, Thomas Broadwood invited five of London’s leading piano virtuosos—including Ferdinand Ries, a pupil of Beethoven—to his workshop to choose an instrument he wished to present to Beethoven. In June 1818, the selected piano left London and began its long journey to Vienna. The instrument is now in the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest. Unfortunately, its condition no longer permits playing. In 1992, the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn acquired a Broadwood piano, made less than three months before the one given to Beethoven. This pristine piano, used here, gives us a rare opportunity to hear the sound of an early 19th-century English piano. We know that Beethoven frequently performed works by Mozart in public. His famous cadenzas for Mozart’s Piano Concerto in D minor, K. 466, give us an idea of his approach to Mozart’s piano music. He makes no concessions to 18th-century norms. On the contrary, Beethoven gives free rein to the powerful sounds of the 19th-century English piano. The performance of Mozart’s piano works on such an instrument today illustrates how much the perception of his music has evolved in just a few years. In 1817, had he lived, Mozart would have been only 61 years old.