Angela Hewitt, the pianist on this recording, is renowned for her recordings of all major keyboard works by Bach, described as "one of the record glories of our age."
Compositional Technique
Mozart's Sonata No. 6 in D major, K284, was commissioned by Baron Thaddäus von Dürnitz and features an orchestral first movement with techniques like unison octaves and tremolos imitating violins.
Instruments
Mozart was familiar with the clavichord, which could imitate the human voice and produce vibrato, and he acquired his own Walter fortepiano in Vienna in 1782.
Composition History
The first six sonatas on this album were likely written in Salzburg in 1774 and were ready for performance when Mozart was in Munich from December 1774 to March 1775.
Critical Reception
The American pianist and composer Edward MacDowell (1860-1908) believed Mozart's early piano sonatas were "entirely unworthy" of the composer, overshadowed by his concertos.
Performer Biography
Angela Hewitt was the first woman to be awarded the City of Leipzig Bach Medal in its seventeen-year history in 2020.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Mozart's keyboard music, influenced by his exposure to Italian bel canto, requires a singing tone, with each note of a run to be sung "as though one were a great opera singer, telling a story."
