Clementi's performance style was characterized by 'unequaled feats of technical prowess' and 'novel freedoms in tempo and dynamics in the service of heightened expression', which impressed his listeners.
Recording & Production
This album is the third volume in a complete chronological survey of Clementi's piano sonatas by Howard Shelley, with previous volumes receiving wide praise.
Critical Reception
Mozart's negative opinions about Clementi's playing, broadcast by biographers in the nineteenth century, had a distinctly deleterious effect upon Clementi's posthumous reputation, which was slowly rehabilitated in the twentieth century.
Cultural Impact
A landmark in the rehabilitation of Clementi's standing was Vladimir Horowitz's recording of a selection of Clementi sonatas in 1955.
Composition History
Many of Clementi's keyboard sonatas from the late 1780s were written for publication, primarily intended for the growing population of amateur pianists in London, who were mostly young women.
Composer Biography
After returning to London in 1783, Clementi took on Johann Baptist Cramer, who became the first of a long series of famous piano students.
Composer Biography
Muzio Clementi, born in Rome in 1752, was often compared to Mozart, and their famous piano 'contest' in Vienna in 1781 led to Mozart making damaging remarks about Clementi's playing.
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