Ran Jia - Mozart: Piano Sonatas K. 281, K. 284, K. 310 & Fantasia K. 475 (2024) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

The Chinese pianist Ran Jia gained international attention for her extraordinary interpretations of Franz Schubert’s piano works. Tan Dun praised her as a ‘piano poet with dramatic skill in music-making’ and her Schubert recordings were ranked alongside famous Schubert albums by Kempff, Lupu and Richter. Now Ran Jia, who was appointed professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 2022, is releasing her new album, which she dedicates to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s poetic sonata cosmos.

And she has chosen the programme with care, as it exemplifies the development of Mozart’s sonata oeuvre: from the emancipation of the sonata, still inspired by Haydn, to the independent concert piece and the opening up of new dimensions of expression that point ahead to the Romantic period.

The programme begins with the early B flat major Sonata K. 281, which still has some Haydnian traits and, with its cornucopia of exuberant ideas, is sometimes reminiscent of scenes from an opera buffa.

The ‘Dürnitz Sonata’ K. 284 – named after Thaddäus Freiherr von Dürnitz – is one of Mozart’s most technically and musically demanding sonatas, the climax of which is probably the most important variation movement in Mozart’s sonata cosmos in terms of its variative fantasy and emotional depth. The sheer overwhelming change of emotions, ranging from deep melancholy to exuberant humour, is remarkable.

The fact that Mozart opened up completely new dimensions of expression for the sonata form in this creative phase can also be heard in the Sonata in A minor K. 310 – here, sombre tones predominate, the light and cheerful only appearing as a contrasting foil to the prevailing melancholy and gloom. The piece surprises not only with the subjectivity of its statement, but also with its proximity to Romantic concepts.

Ran Jia concludes the album with the C minor Fantasy K. 475. Mozart prefaced the piece with a prelude to the first of his ‘Viennese Sonatas’; however, the Fantasy is also extremely revealing as a stand-alone piece of music: Mozart draws a radical conclusion here from his previously tried and tested idea of combining the sonatas with poetic content. In the form of the fantasia, the poetic content alone is allowed to determine the form: Tragedies and elation, strokes of fate and happy coincidences – it is life experience turned into music that is heard here.

Tracklist:
01 - Piano Sonata in B-Flat Major, K. 281_ I, Allegro
02 - Piano Sonata in B-Flat Major, K. 281_ II. Andante amoroso
03 - Piano Sonata in B-Flat Major, K. 281_ III. Rondeau (Allegro)
04 - Piano Sonata in D Major, K. 284, “Dürnitz”_ I, Allegro
05 - Piano Sonata in D Major, K. 284, “Dürnitz”_ II. Rondeau en Polonaise (Andante)
06 - Piano Sonata in D Major, K. 284, “Dürnitz”_ III. Tema con variazione
07 - Piano Sonata in A Minor, K. 310_ I. Allegro maestoso
08 - Piano Sonata in A Minor, K. 310_ II. Andante cantabile con espressione
09 - Piano Sonata in A Minor, K. 310_ III. Presto
10 - Fantasia in C Minor, K. 475


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