Liner Notes

This recording centers around a selection of lesser-known piano works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791). While some of the pieces featured here remained unfinished by the composer and are therefore rarely performed today, others are short, independent compositions overshadowed by Mozart’s better-known masterworks for piano: namely, his genre-defining sonatas and concertos. Even so, the works recorded for this album reveal many of the same qualities closely associated with Mozart’s oeuvre: lyricism, transparency, expressive freedom, and a mastery of formal balance.

Composed between 1778 and 1791, these pieces call upon the musical experiences of Mozart’s youth and contribute to an understanding of his artistic development toward the latter part of his tragically short life. From an early age, Mozart traveled widely across Europe, meeting and performing for several important musicians of the day, while simultaneously being exposed to differing, national musical styles. During his travels to London, Mozart encountered Johann Christian Bach, whose association with the Galant style of elegance, clear structures, and contrasting themes influenced Mozart’s musical language. However, it was his trips to Italy that would prove most significant, for there Mozart developed his voice as an operatic composer which is reflected in the lyricism and florid embellishments of his keyboard works. Constant across all of these experiences was his establishment as one of the finest keyboard players of his time. Taken together, these experiences shaped the music heard on this recording.

Nine Variations on “Lison dormait,” K. 264

In the second half of the eighteenth century, variations were closely tied to the popular practice of improvisation. Mozart himself was admired for his great ability to extemporize at the keyboard, and his variation sets often reflect a characteristic sense of spontaneity.

K. 264 is based on the arietta “Lison dormait” from Nicolas Dezède’s opera Julie, which premiered in Paris in 1778. Composed a few months later, Mozart’s work opens with a theme both simple and songlike, with each ensuing variation transforming it in inventive and contrasting ways. Some variations shift the running, scalar motion from one hand to the other, while others introduce distinctive rhythmic patterns, trills, broken octaves, or alterations of mood. One such notable change occurs at the fifth variation, which turns to C minor and conveys a more wistful character. The eighth variation grows more expansive, and the final variation unfolds with particular brilliance, culminating in a cadenza and codetta that bring the set to a satisfying close. As in Mozart’s operas, much of the interest here lies in the contrast of character from one section to the next.

Many first editions of Mozart’s sonatas reveal ornamentation not found in the autograph, suggesting that varying repeated sections with such additions was an important and expected part of eighteenth-century performance practice. Thus, I have added my own embellishments for all repeats in this work to capture the spirit of creativity.

Allegro in G minor, K. 312

K. 312 survives as an incomplete fragment of what was surely meant to be a sonata’s opening movement. It was only partially written by Mozart, who composed everything up to four measures before the recapitulation. The next forty measures were completed by an unknown composer, while the remainder of the piece follows the first printed edition, in which material from the exposition returns transposed to the minor mode. The final two chords are editorial additions in the first printing, published in 1805 in the Viennese Magasin de l’imprimerie chymique.

This work was once thought to date from 1778, though it was later catalogued as 1790 or 1791. If the later dating is correct, Mozart’s choice of the darker and more somber shading of a minor key may be significant, since 1790 was a period of great personal instability. Furthermore, this particular key holds a distinctive and expressive position in Mozart’s output: of his more than forty symphonies, only two are in a minor key, and both are in G minor. Each of these symphonies is marked by turbulence and emotional intensity, qualities that are also present in this Allegro.

Fantasia in C minor, K. 396

K. 396 is one of Mozart’s most fascinating unfinished works. It was originally intended for piano and violin, though the surviving fragment is dominated by the keyboard, with the violin entering only near the end. This arrangement has led some to believe that Mozart may have first conceived it as a solo keyboard piece before attempting to add a violin part.

Although labeled as a fantasia, this piece utilizes the standard tripartite form of a sonata-allegro movement but applies to it the freer and more rhapsodic expressive nature associated with the former. The influence of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach is evident here in the work’s textural explorations, sudden dramatic contrasts, diverse emotional affects, and sense of improvisatory freedom.

Of the remaining fragment, Mozart left only the exposition. Maximilian Stadler (1748–1833), a notable composer and historian who helped catalog Mozart’s manuscripts, later completed the composition. Stadler remained true to Mozart’s original themes and motives, building the development from existing ideas and carefully shaping the recapitulation after the surviving exposition.

Allegro in B-flat major, K. 400

Mozart composed K. 400 in 1781 during his stay with the Weber family in Vienna, whom he had met previously in 1777 while searching for employment in Mannheim. Like several other works on this album, K. 400 remained incomplete before Mozart’s untimely death. Originally intended as a sonata-allegro first movement, the fragment was later completed by Stadler, who added the concluding recapitulation.

One of the most striking moments in this Allegro occurs midway through, where Mozart writes a passage that appears to symbolize the names of two of the Weber sisters, Sophie and Costanza. “Sophie” fits a two-note gesture in German, while “Costanza” fits a three-note gesture in Italian, both of which suggest a musical effect both highly personal and unusual in other eighteenth-century examples. While the Allegro shares the grace and charm of Mozart’s other B-flat major keyboard works, it also carries a special intimacy that offers a glimpse into his personal world, as Mozart would marry Costanza the following year.

Rondo in F major, K. 494

K. 494 was composed in 1786 as a standalone work. Although little is known about the circumstances of its genesis, it seems likely that Mozart intended it as the second in a set of three rondos, together with K. 485 and K. 511.

One year later in 1787, Mozart received appointment as Kammermusicus to Joseph II and completed the first two movements of his Piano Sonata in F major, K. 533—catalogued as “An Allegro and Andante for piano alone”—shortly thereafter. Eager to prove his competence to Joseph II, Mozart returned to the earlier rondo and reworked it as the sonata’s closing movement, expanding it with twenty-seven new bars of cadenza near the end. In keeping with the importance of improvisation and embellishment as detailed above, I have chosen to compose and feature my own original cadenza in place of Mozart’s.

Piano Sonata in F major, K. 547a: Allegro and Allegretto / Six Variations in F major, K. 54

The final two works on this recording belong to a difficult period in Mozart’s life: his father had died one year prior in 1787, while Mozart also faced growing financial instability. In his own handwritten catalogue, Mozart entered a “Sonata in F for violin and keyboard” in July 1788 and described it as a “little Keyboard Sonata for beginners with a violin.” It was completed two weeks after the Piano Sonata in C major, K. 545, which he also described as a “little Keyboard Sonata for beginners.” On account of their greater technical accessibility, these works may reflect an effort to appeal to a wider public, and with it a hope for much needed income.

The publication history of this music is complicated. In 1805, a printed edition presented the work in three movements: Andante cantabile, Allegro, and Andante con variazioni, respectively. However, the last two movements had already appeared separately in versions for keyboard alone: the Andante con variazioni as Six Variations in F major, K. 54 (1795), as well as the Allegro and transposed Rondo from K. 545 as a two-movement Piano Sonata in F major (1799). Alfred Einstein, editor of the Köchel catalogue, later attempted to combine these pieces into a three-movement sonata (year unknown), though that decision has remained controversial, with the Six Variations in F major long established as an independent work.

To offer the rare opportunity to experience these works as a whole, I have chosen to present the Piano Sonata in F major, K. 547a together with the unofficial third movement, Six Variations in F major, K. 54. As before and in keeping with eighteenth-century performance practice, I have added original ornamentation to repeated passages.

Conclusion

The selected works on this recording confirm that Mozart’s melodic invention, improvisatory freedom, and expressive depth extend beyond his best-known piano sonatas and concertos. Even in pieces that are unfinished or reconstructed, his musical voice remains unmistakable. In these less familiar works, one still encounters the vitality and sensitivity that elevate Mozart’s art to its highest level.