These six sonatas were written during Mozart’s long journey
to and from Paris (through Munich, Augsburg and Mannheim) between
the end of 1777 and the summer of 1778: a particularly interesting
period in the composer’s development which, though coinciding
with the death of his mother, saw his stylistic horizons broaden
significantly. They clearly form a set (hence Arcana’s listing
I-VI, despite the existence of several earlier – and a handful
of later – sonatas for this combination) and have often been
referred to as the ‘Palatine’ Sonatas, after the dedicatee,
Princess-Electress Elisabeth Auguste, wife of Karl Theodor of
the Palatinate.
You may have been dissuaded – I was, in my
formative years – from taking the Mozart Violin Sonatas too
seriously. But it would be a pity to overlook them, for they
contain much charming music, and not a few surprises. There’s
very little that could be called innovative (compared to, say,
the Piano Concertos, or even the Violin Concertos) and there’s
not much of the soul-searching one finds in the great String
Quartets or Quintets. Indeed, of the pieces recorded here, only
the D major, K306, can claim to be in any way heavyweight:
and it is the only three-movement work in this set.
Even so, the violin-piano dialogue in the rondo
of the E flat Sonata, K302, is irresistible. Likewise the
unexpected tempo changes in the first movement of the C major,
K303. And there is much of the dramatic – indeed chromatic –
expressiveness we associate with the great minor-key Mozart
in both the E minor Sonata, K304, and a number of short-lived
episodes in the minor mode in the G major, K301.
It’s useful to remind ourselves that these
pieces were described as Sonatas for Harpsichord or Fortepiano
with Violin Accompaniment. Of course this was the contemporary
convention – one which persisted as far as the Beethoven Op
30 Sonatas – but there’s no doubt (from Mozart’s writing) that
this was no mere unthinking acceptance of a tradition. Although
the Variations included here (they date from 1781, by which
time Mozart had settled in Vienna) distribute musical interest
much more equally between the two players, there is evidence
that even these were conceived as piano music, with the violin
part being added later.
I raise this point mainly because my only (niggling…)
complaint about this otherwise outstanding release is that the
sound balance clearly favours the violinist, and puts the fortepianist
very much in the background. Happily, Gatti’s silky sustained
tone (he plays an 1789 Laurentius Storioni) is so easily distinguished
from the drier, more intimate sound of Alvini’s 1785 Anton Waller
fortepiano, that the ear soon finds a way of hearing the music
the way Mozart intended it. But I do wish the engineers (and
Gatti himself, who needs to take more of a back seat when he’s
contributing a mere harmonic line or accompanying figure) had
brought the piano further forward for us.
That aside, I have nothing but praise for this
issue. Gatti and Alvini play as if entranced by this music:
everything is beautifully polished and fresh. As with other
Arcana issues, there is an excellent (and scholarly) booklet,
which occupies a central position in a lavishly decorated triptych-like
case. Recommended to all serious collectors, and not just to
students of this repertory or this period.
Peter J Lawson
Laura Alvini (fortepiano)
& Enrico Gatti (violin) 