What advice would you give to someone playing Mozart for the first time?
I am starting the Fantasy in C minor (k.475), and am wondering what grade this would be (it's a lot harder than it looks to "perfect" - I am Grade 8ish), though any general advice would be appreciated.

The obvious advice regarding Mozart is as follows:
Never underestimate the degree of difficulty in performing Mozart accurately, elegantly and convincingly!

I agree - from what I have heard, too many people underestimate Mozart by just judging him by the sheet music (learning notes etc), but not many can produce a good performance of the nuances in his music.

Have you got a teacher who can advise you?
I would listen to lots of different recordings and interpretations of the music while learning to play it and find a bit more about the piece or Mozart's Fantasies generally.
I'll start you off.......

I was going to link you to some sound clips at Amazon.com but the website appears to be down. Try amazon or other CD stores for some sound clips later on. I managed to hear half a dozen different samples there to the Beethoven Sonata movement that I am
currently playing. They were all quite similar with only slight fluctuations of tempo but it opened my eyes a lot to the interpretation of this particular piece. If I can play it as well as Brendel or Barenboim or Perhia I'll be quite happy.

Gae

Amazon had seven cds with it on....

Example 1


Example 2

Gae

I think the C minor fantasy is slightly harder than grade 8. One of the things I always bear in mind to make Mozart more elegant is to keep th dynamic levels down generally - romantic fortes and Mozart fortes are very different. Also keep pedal to a minimum/ or use frequent pedal changes - it shouldn't be obvious that you're using it. Also balance - keep the left hand inparticular nice and light and let the RH melody come through. Mozart needs light fingerwork, so I would practise fast passages with a finger staccato which helps the clarity. (In performance you would use legato, but the finger staccato practice makes the legato clearer, if that makes sense.) No heavy octaves or chords - bring the top note out but keep the lower notes softer.

Hope this helps.

Mozart piano sonata
Kav 570, 311,309, 284 is for gr 8 (1st movt) if 3 movt is for dip.
Anyway it is just what I think.

that one...k309? i think its that one... it starts

c......e..g....b..cdc

I think both Mozart fantasia's in c minor (k396 and K475) are around performance certificate/dipabrsm standard. Mozart is decievably hard to perfect. Practice it slowly and try to achieve the clearest articulation possible. In Mozart expression is accuracy in rhythm,staccatto,legato,rests,connected notes etc.Use very litle pedal, if any at all. Listen carfully to the music you are playing, dont just play it. Thats about as much as I can think of for now.
Hope this helps....

Isn't that K.545, with the big scale runs?

lol. probably, i have it somewhere but cant find it...Which one's K.309 then?

It's in C major

Two things I've heard about Mozart, and can heartily agree with:

He's easy enough for beginners and too hard for professionals.
- (ie, the notes are often easy, but even the very best players sometimes can't bring out the character of the music as well as they'd like)

It's easy to play Mozart, but very hard to play it well!

The first Mozart piece I played was an exam piece, I think it was grade 2 or 3 and at the bottom of the page it said that Mozart wrote this piece when he was staying in England at the age of 8 and I remember thinking at the time that if Mozart was alive today I would want to beat him up because that as an adult learner I found it hard to play a piece of music by an 8 year old or out of jealousy that a 8 year old could write music of this standard.

I wonder if Mozart was hated by other musicans of his time because of his talent?