Mozart: Allegro in C major, K1b

SFZ Music, the independent label for His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts, are pleased to announce their latest release, a recording given by one of the finest scholar-performers currently working in Britain.

John Irving is an internationally recognised Mozart scholar, having written five books including the international best-selling 'The Treasures of Mozart', and also widely acclaimed as one of the finest interpreters of keyboard music from the early classical period.

'Mozart on the Hass Clavichord' is a programme showcasing the wonderful instrument by Johann Adolph Hass (1715-76) made in Hamburg in 1763 and currently residing in the Edinburgh University Collection of Historic Musical Instruments.

Irving explores in detail historical performance practice issues, as well as reminding us that the Clavichord remained a favoured instrument for Mozart throughout his life, and accenting the intimate, domestic nature of his keyboard music.

Brilliance, fluency, clarity and extraordinary communicative powers – Mozart seems to have had them all. Little wonder he was hailed as the finest pianist of his generation – even rivals such as Clementi commented ‘I had never heard anyone play with so much spirit and grace…’ Of course we have no idea how Mozart the pianist sounded. We have the reviews and comments of those who heard him perform, and we have the instruments of his time. These do take us some way to understanding performance practice of the day, and the limitations of the instruments, and how composers of the late 18th century worked to test the instruments, and make greater demands upon the constantly evolving pianoforte.

On these 14 CDs, everything Mozart wrote for solo keyboard, or for 4-hands is here, from small works written down by his incredulous father Leopold when his son as just 5 years old, to the works of the child prodigy through to the masterpieces of the mature genius.

There is much that is well known here, but interestingly there are several first recordings. All the works are played on pianofortes of the period.

Extensive booklet notes on an accompanying CD-ROM.

Includes world premiere recordings.

First complete cycle using instruments of the period.

Van Oort plays on five different (copies of) period fortepianos to convey Mozart’s music as directly as possible without the necessary “translation” when playing a modern grand. This results in a great clarity of sound and structure.

Part of this issue represents an important addition to the Mozart repertoire. The Adagio in F major, K Anh. A65, the Modulation Prelude, K624 and the Ballet music from another opera, Ascanio in Alba, K111, are amongst the first recordings too.