Get the style right - "The true poem is the poet; the true ship is the ship builder"

As a music enthusiast in the 21 century, do you have the experience of attending a concert where a bunch of Modern and Romantic pieces were performed as a main dish, and a little bit of Mozart was inserted somewhere in between? The light weight looking Mozart, almost always, surprisingly, could stand out as the only wonder that made the concert going a right choice for a beautiful Saturday evening.

I wonder why. What makes Mozart different from other composers?

Surely he is a genius. But aren't romantic and modern composers like Chopin and Prokofiev just as great?

Getting the "style" right in piano playing takes so much more than just knowing the scores inside out and playing perfectly with no mistakes. It is beyond technique requirements; it is what gives life to the music. Therefore, style is a critical part of a musical work and should be taken care of in details; it is a unique product that comes from that particular historical period of time, that particular personality and background of the composer and should never be overlooked.

Mozart no doubt has his own style that is very distinctive!

To say the least, during Mozart's lifetime (1756 - 1791), elegance, balance, and simplicity representing "classical period" replaced Baroque period's decoration, ornamentation and complexities, and the Romantic period, characterized by heightened emotions and chromatic/dissonant harmony had yet to arrive.

As a pianist the ability to differentiate the style of one period/composer from another period/composer is, crucial. Could you imagine playing Chopin like Mozart and playing Mozart like Chopin? That will not work. Would you want to wear a pair of runners to a Gala dinner or drinking red wine in a glass in the night market in Taiwan? The ackwardness is obvious.

Get the style right. Please. "The true composition is the composer."

To know Mozart and his life, musicologist Dr. Robert Greenberg's teaching courses are invaluable resources. Available on Amazon Audible and Youtube. Interested? Check it out. He is funny, knowlegeable and so engaging.

Mozart and Haydn | Robert Greenberg: Mozart in Vienna

The Operas of Mozart

https://www.amazon.com/The-Operas-of-Mozart/dp/B00DTO43U2/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1539369668&sr=1-16&keywords=Mozart

Great Masters: Mozart - His Life and Music

https://www.amazon.com/Great-Masters-Mozart-Life-Music/dp/B00DTNVU36/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1539369668&sr=1-9&keywords=Mozart#customerReviews

Should we use pedal at all playing Mozart - what does Mozart's piano look like?

Nothing irritates me more than seeing Bach or Mozart being played on a digital/electrical piano. There is plenty of research in recent years in academics, advocating the importance of making music on period instruments in order to achieve "authenticity". I have a lot of respect and admiration for music scholars for such efforts. Today however I would like to focus on the Mozart's piano technique and share with you the ideas of "pedalling".

The standard acoustic pianos nowadays that are manufactured for classical pianists are best suited for romantic and modern period works, with powerful mechanics and sound resonance. The keyboard instrument has afterall developed over a few hundred of years, along with the development of the western music styles.

Today as a pianist learning to play a compositions from classical or even Baroque period of time, it is important to know how to make the playing true to the composition, style wise. When playing Mozart, should the pedal be used at all? If it is oK to use the pedal, how much is proper?

In June this year I had the honor to play the Mozart Sonata K311 in D Major for a renowned master pianist while attending a piano festival in Hawaii. I was very confused when being advised to play Mozart with plenty of sustaining pedal. This differs from my understanding about using the sustaining pedal scarcely.

What on earth does Mozart's pianoforte look like? Does it have a pedal availabe and if it does what did it do? I found a very informative video that can greatly help:

This replica pianoforte mimicked the last pianoforte Mozart played and performed on. The original nowadays still exists and is being kept in Mozart's museum in Salzburg. Yes there are pedals available to create "special effect", which are similar to the sustaining pedal and una corda pedal we have today. It is not wrong to use pedal obviously. However the question is how much. Mozart did not mark pedal applications in his composition at all, which leaves us a lot of room making our own decisions.

We need to understand that this pianoforte was the newest piano at his time and for the most of his childhood the keyboards he played were harpischords. This tells us that the use of pedal is not something that is an extensive practice but for special effect/expression. Overall, Mozart's work follows Haydn's classical tradition - a style of classical "simplicity" and "balance" which requires very high degree of "clarity". The muddy or blurry sound that gets in the way of chord pregression or melodic lines caused by sustaining pedal should never be heard!

So what does Mozart sound like when played on the pianoforte of his time?

In 2012, Russian pianist Alexander Melnikov gave a beyond beautiful small concert on the original pianoforte Mozart owned and played on for almost a decade in Vienna after 1781. Imagine W A Mozart composed and performed his most loved piano concertos on this particular piano! Click on the link below to see the news/video clip. Must watch!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIHQSQI4MWk&t=5s

In short, I advise that playing Mozart with zero pedal as the main principle. However, use sustaining pedal scarcely and carefully to

- help connect notes when legato can not be achieved due to fingering difficulties

- help sustain sounds as needed, i.e. long trills or expressive melodic lines (example in the linked video by the author)

and be careful to change pedal as needed to maintain clarity at all times.

The clarity of sound should never be compromised or interrupted by muddy sound.

Notes on playing Mozart piano sonatas - Balance between left hand and right hand

It took me three years, seriously speaking, to learn Mozart piano sonata K 311 in D major. I am not exaggerating. This sonata was picked out more than five years ago by my teacher. I found that my attitudes about how to play the sonata at that time somehow stayed at when I was a child - I played it through, felt good, and played it through, again and again. However, that did not get me ready to take an official exam.

Not until I restarted the learning process two years later, I figured out how to practice it in an effective way. There are certain principles that need to be built into the practice routine: a set of rules that should be used when it comes to Mozart. Now that I have performed this piece many times and have a better understanding, I feel I would share my notes and thoughts with who are interested in playing Mozart piano sonatas and who are wanting to play Mozart well enought to perform them.

The notes and thoughts were the result of a lot of efforts and persperation. If they mean a lot to me, I am sure it means a lot to you.

Mozart has a lot of 16th notes accompaniment on the left hand. These 16th notes are not playing a melodic role, but are harmonizing the melody on the right hand. Therefore, they should be played much much lighter than the right hand. How light? Very, very, very! The "balance" does not refer to "equal", but it means in fact "unequal" or "

one hand dominates the other hand"!

Why very, very, very light? The logic is that style-wise Mozart is to be played "light" overall. The only way to accentuate "light accompaniment" on the left hand is to play even lighter!