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 and a contemporaneous Adagio, K. 356, are played on the fortepiano, and two sizable variation sets are heard on a clavichord and a harpsichord, respectively. Even those who have no interest in purchasing this recording should sample track 8, the little-known 12 Variations on a Minuet by Johann Christian Fischer, K. 179. Leave your speaker and volume controls in their normal positions, and the clavichord, quiet in a way that nothing today can be, and yet still sounding like something out of the arsenal of electronica, will transport you to another world.
The fortepiano performances are superb. For those used to a modern piano, the instrument is apt to have a clunking sound, but its action is lighter and more agile than that of a modern grand. Rampe exploits both aspects of the instrument, using its percussive powers in the more imposing K. 311 sonata while delivering the necessary delicacy in the slow movements, particularly the Andante un poco adagio of the Sonata in C major, K. 309. This variation set seems overwrought on a modern piano; it depends for its effect on little ornaments at phrase ends (Rampe judiciously adds a few) that have an almost wispy quality. The brilliant harpsichord variation set, the 12 Variations on "Je suis Lindor," K. 354, closes the disc with attractive virtuosic displays on that instrument. The German label MDG strives for (and, as usual, achieves) historically authentic sound design evocative of the surroundings in which the music would originally have been performed; the old Cologne house in which the recording was done for this disc has a strong sense of quiet, drawing-room atmosphere. There are other fine fortepiano performances of the two sonatas here, but anyone interested in hearing Mozart on original instruments should consider this disc as well as the others in Rampe's series.
© TiVo