The second issue in
Joyce Hatto’s Mozart sonata cycle completes
(with K.284) the group of early sonatas
and therefore couples one of the least
played with one of the most celebrated
– that in A minor.
Our bad habit of using
Mozart sonatas as "warming-up"
pieces in recitals has caused pianists
to shy away from K.284 which concludes
with an expansive series of variations.
In the present performance this movement
alone lasts 17:06 minutes, and even
the brisker Alicia de Larrocha takes
14:59. Furthermore, this sonata contains,
in its Rondeau en Polonaise,
that rarity: a Mozart movement which
is relatively unconvincing. True, we
must not expect a Mozart Polonaise to
sound like a Chopin one, but even when
we have cleared the mental decks, this
piece often sounds unduly static. The
first movement of the sonata, on the
other hand, is satisfyingly concise
and fiery.
Both de Larrocha and
Hatto are magnificent in this first
movement, de Larrocha somewhat more
decoratively rococo, Hatto adding a
touch of orchestral grandeur. In the
Rondeau en Polonaise I think de Larrocha
is more successful – she seems more
in contact with the underlying dance
rhythm and so better avoids the risk
of sounding static. In the variations,
though, I find Hatto’s more expansive
approach more loving and thus masking
the longeurs by its sheer beauty.
In the C major sonata,
grandly and sensitively delivered by
both artists, I have a few queries over
detail. After the opening 2-bar flourish,
the two crotchets (fourth-notes) which
open the ensuing lyrical theme are not
marked either staccato or legato. Why,
then, do both pianists make them so
very short rather than let the note
sing for virtually its written value?
Granted the approach, Hatto has a fetching
elegance beside which de Larrocha seems
a shade brittle. Then, in the next bar,
the first crotchet is preceded by an
appoggiatura which is normally
resolved as two equal quavers (eighth-notes),
and so de Larrocha plays it. Hatto makes
the first note very short indeed, as
if it were an acciaccatura. Is
there some discrepancy in the MS sources
or between editions (I am using a Peters
Edition edited by Martienssen which
claims to be Urtext, but it is evident
at many points that both de Larrocha
and Hatto have a very different edition)?
Still, these will be small details for
most listeners. Honours are about even
in the second movement. Hatto’s last
movement sets off at a beautifully spacious
and unhurried tempo, truly Allegretto
without a trace of Allegro, and
undoubtedly grazioso. Except
that, as it goes on, one begins to wonder,
as one does sometimes with symphony
movements conducted by Klemperer which
seem perfect at the outset, if a finale
ought not to "go" (as Tovey
put it) just a little more, rather than
seem a gentle epilogue. It’s all very
admirable but I think Hatto must be
one of those people who actually enjoy
driving within the speed limits and
continue unperturbedly, unruffledly,
as people whiz past them, buzz them,
flash headlights at them, hoot at them
and subject them to foul gestures. In
a way I feel ashamed of my own impatience,
yet if only she had done all the same
things, but done them a tad faster …
At which point, enter Alicia de Larrocha.
The first movement
of the A minor also put me in mind of
Klemperer, this time in the G minor
symphony. For some listeners, his patient
opening tempo makes the string quavers
merely chug, and maybe for those same
listeners the repeated quavers here
will also seem to "chug".
But this is marked Allegro maestoso
and for myself I had concluded long
before hearing Joyce Hatto’s recording
that the music should unfold at just
such a leisurely tempo, without trying
to find a proto-Beethovenian drive in
it.
A beautifully sung
second movement is followed by a finale
which shows that, when Mozart’s marking
actually is Presto, Hatto, without
losing her Olympian calm, responds with
a genuinely fast tempo. The performance
of this sonata will repay the closest
attention.
If I have had a few
queries (rather than outright criticisms),
I hope I have made it clear that this
well-recorded issue is part of a Mozart
cycle which belongs among the finest,
and I hope it will get the acknowledgement
it deserves.
Christopher Howell
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Complete
listing of Concert Artist recordings
Joyce Hatto (piano) 