Mozart - Piano Sonata No. 4, K.282 (1775) [Ingrid Haebler]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791), baptised as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the classical era. According to Bartje Bartmans one of the greatest and brightest stars on the firmament.

Piano Sonata No. 4 in E-flat major, K. 282 (189g) (1775)

1. Adagio (0:00)
2. Menuetto I & II (5:24)
3. Allegro (9:47)

Ingrid Haebler, piano

This and Piano Sonata No. 11, K.331 are the only piano sonatas with first movements not in sonata form.
Sonata K.282 was composed when Mozart was in Munich for premiere of "La finta giardiniera", probably as travelling repertoire that might be readily copied for would-be patrons. Sonatas K.279-284 were all written in rapid succession, either December 1774 or early 1775. Precise dates are unclear.

Some thoughts about Mozart's use of tonality in the keyboard works by H.C. Robbins Landon

Mozart's keyboard writing is notable for the restraint of its tonal progressions in comparison with Haydn's. In the Haydn sonatas, tonality wanders for the sake of variety and surprise, and his enharmonic devices can even result in changes of signature within a movement. Mozart's modulations, on the other hand, are always demanded by the logic of sonata structure; he employs simple, even neutral tonal bases such as C, D, F, B-flat and E-flat, and any surprise effects are the more surprising for their infrequencey.

Some thoughts about the use of these piano sonatas:

Teachers are still apt to ignore the evidence that the youthful composer was blessed with a prodigious humanity, evidence that shines through when a mature talent deigns to play one of these 'easy' works. Tainted as much by schoolroom association as by the unjust platitude that Mozart was not Beethoven, the best of this rich corpus is too often passed over in favor of works by later pianist-composers with hearts and techniques flaunted on sleeves. From even the most casual study of the sonatas it is evident that their 'simplicity' is actually restraint; the observation of the decorum of a musical form. The flare-ups of passion and overt virtuosity in the concertos and, indeed, some of the fantasias and later variations, were clearly thought unsuitable to the air of the more intimate (perhaps more academic) sonata.