Mozart - Piano Sonata No. 2, K. 280 (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. 2 in F major, K. 280 (189e) Munich, 1775

1. Allegro assai (0:00)
2. Adagio (5:04)
3. Presto (11:42)

Ingrid Haebler, piano

Sonata K.280 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.

The second movement of the sonata is an adagio in F minor. It is the only piano sonata by Mozart with a slow movement in a minor key. While not marked as such, the movement is a siciliana. The mood of this movement is mournful and tragic, with the opening somewhat resembling a funeral march. Estonian composer Arvo Pärt's 1992 (rev. 2005) piece Mozart's Adagio reimagined the music from this movement in a work for violin, cello and piano.

Overview of the piano sonatas by H.C. Robbins Landon

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.