This week pianist Orli Shaham treats us to the first movement of Sonata No.16, K. 545 in C Major, with her MidWeek Mozart. Available to stream for free beginning Wednesday, May 20.

 

Sonata No.16 is well loved not only because of the first movement's very hum-able melody. As Ms. Shaham relays, "the C major sonata is the first big classical sonata that most piano students learn. Mozart wrote this in a didactic way with all the fingerwork - arpeggios, trills, and scales – it’s all in there! But this piece teaches more than technique, it teaches improvisation – live composition – which was such a huge part of composition at the time. So in this recording, not only do I play with dynamics in the repeats, I also play with the notes."

 

Orli Shaham's MidWeek Mozart gives you exclusive access to a different movement of a Mozart piano sonata, available for a whole week, FREE! Get your weekly dose of Mozart each Wednesday, and enjoy it until the following Wednesday when it will be replaced by the next installment, at OrliShahamMozart.com.

Last summer pianist Orli Shaham recorded 12 of Mozart’s pianos sonatas at historic Mechanics Hall in Worcester, MA. Volume 1, the first of a five-CD series of the complete Mozart piano sonatas, will be released later this year on Canary Classics. This album includes Piano Sonata No. 3, K. 281, Piano Sonata No. 13, K. 333, and Piano Sonata No. 17, K. 570; all in Bb major. Ms. Shaham completes the recording project this summer, and releases the entire set of Mozart’s piano sonatas in 2021.