Mozart the Poet - Piano Sonatas Vol. 4

In the fourth installment of his complete recording of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's piano sonatas, Michael Wessel presents Sonatas Nos 10-12, all written in Vienna in 1783, under the title Mozart the Poet.

In the interesting approach explained in detail in the booklet text, the pianist interprets the three well-known works as instrumental narrative (K. 330), poem (K. 331) and opera (K. 332). Mozart composed the three sonatas KV 330, 331 and 332 during his first year of marriage to his wife Constanze. Mozart demonstrated his versatility to the Viennese with these sonatas; in fact, the differences in musical language are truly remarkable. KV 330 flows freely, similar to a narrative, and despite its many contrasts and surprising twists, the flow is quite miraculously never broken.

KV 331 is structured like a poem with a very clear meter, particularly in the first movement. By contrast, KV 332 expresses a conflict of strongly contrasting and sharply delineated personas, similar to the characters of a play or an opera. Like a writer of his time, Mozart established himself in the three genres of poetry: narrative, lyric and drama.

Michael Wessel is a professor of piano, song accompaniment and methodology at the University of Protestant Church Music in Bayreuth. His repertoire includes all piano-relevant stylistic epochs from the 18th to the 21st century. He gives concerts regularly in numerous countries in Europe and the Middle East as a soloist, accompanist and chamber musician. He gives concerts with well-known chamber music partners such as Tilmann Wick, Daniel Gaede, Kai Wessel and Jan Schroeder. His broad artistic work is documented by radio recordings and CDs (SWR, Animato). Wessel is a sought-after juror at national and international competitions (e.g. Franz Liszt Competition Weimar, National University Competition of the Italian Conservatories) and regularly lectures at master classes in Germany and abroad (e.g. Conservatorio G. Puccini La Spezia, ABA Muscat Oman, Music University Vienna).