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Published: Wednesday, 22 January 2025 at 11:54 AM
Review: Mozart Piano Sonatas (Ran Jia)
Mozart
Piano Sonatas in B-Flat major, D major ‘Dürnitz’ and A minor; Fantasy in C minor
Ran Jia (piano)
Prospero PROSP0108 69:49 mins
Clip: Mozart: Piano Sonata in A Minor, K. 310 1. Allegro maestoso
Alfred Brendel famously remarked that ‘in Mozart, pianists try too hard…and at the same time, often not hard enough.’ Technical mastery is a pre-requisite, certainly, but it should never eclipse an understanding of the semantics and vocabulary of Viennese Classicism. That’s where this exceptional issue proves so rewarding; these cultivated, scrupulously prepared accounts from pianist Ran Jia reveal musical insights and an intellectual probity suggestive of Brendel himself.
Mozart’s youthful B flat Sonata, K281, finds close microphone placement affording marginally crisper articulation than in Brendel’s own 2004 Decca version. Ran Jia’s playing impresses with its verve and fluidity of expression, missing little of the confessional poignancy of Brendel’s hallmark understatement in the bewitching central Andante.
Her reading of the so-called ‘Dürnitz’ Sonata, K284, is similarly impressive. Her incisive approach explores the inner tensions of the large-scale opening movement to useful effect, though she is at her best in the finale, finding mordant gravitas in its several minor key variations. Mitsuko Uchida’s mid-1980s Philips account is engrossing too, as one would expect, but even it can’t match the dizzying sonics of this release.
Mozart’s A minor Sonata, K310, dates from his unhappy Paris sojourn of 1778. Ran Jia plays with rigour and resolve throughout this meticulously detailed performance, as she does in her equally persuasive account of the final work here, the sublime K475 Fantasia (1784). An undeniable triumph, and one of the best keyboard recordings of the decade thus far. Michael Jameson