Mozart Sonata in C Major K. 330 vs Sonata in E flat Hob XVI 52

College Majors Music Majors
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<p>Only talking about the first movements:</p>

<p>Mozart Sonata in C Major K. 330
<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd7Q7vhNB…[/url]”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd7Q7vhNB&#8230;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Sonata in E flat Hob XVI 52
<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e53hi-xFy…[/url]”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e53hi-xFy&#8230;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Relatively, the first piece is 6 pages and the second is 8 pages. However, disregarding repeating parts, the “actual” content is closer to 4 pages and 5 pages.</p>

<p>I need to learn one of these and memorize it. I’m not that strong technically (I can play grade 8 songs but can’t get them to a super polished level, more like a “proficient” level where I just only make a couple mistakes and can improve a lot on the interpretation, etc., I’m not one of those who win or do well in a lot of competitions) And both of these are grade 8 songs by ABRSM.</p>

<p>It looks like the Haydn one is a lot faster, but everyone plays it very slowly some reason… There’s 4 beats a measure and so it’s more like roughly 80 bps instead of the allegro 120-160. I don’t understand this? It’s not in cut time or anything… The first one is 2 beats a measure and is played right, at 126 bps Allegro Moderato. The second one is 4 beats a measure, Allegro (160 bps), but yet they play it as if there’s 8 beats a measure, so that it’s 2 times slower. Does the Allegro not necessarily always mean to play it at 120-160bps but rather that the “spirit” of the piece should be simply fast?</p>

<p>Also, I need to pick this for college audition. If they say they want an “allegro movement”, does that include Allegro Moderato, or just “Allegro”, nothing else?</p>

<p>I counted the beats excluding repeats (the audition people probably don’t want to hear them right?) and it’s about 380 beats vs 480 beats, so the 2nd has just a little more “content”.</p>

<p>But ultimately I need to pick the easier one ^_^. Or if picking the one that I like more will help me learn it faster, I would like to know that too.</p>

<p>I usually like to pick songs that are not as popular, which would be the first one in this case I believe, since sometimes the judges may be “biased” and tired of hearing the more popular songs? (especially if they hear them played very well more often than the rarer songs). Does this matter?</p>

<p>Thanks SO much in advance!</p>

2

<p>Allegro refers to the spirit of the music, not a particular number of beats per minute. </p>

<p>When an “allegro movement” is requested, it is fine if the tempo indication includes other words (e.g. “allegro moderato” “allegro vivace” . . .).</p>

<p>Judges will always tell you that how you play is much more important than what you play (as long as you are playing repertoire of appropriate difficulty). However, if all other factors are equal, I, like you, would tend to opt for a piece that is not played as often. Ultimately, though, you should choose something that you will play well and that highlights your abilities. Your teacher will be in by far the best position to help you decide on that.</p>

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<p>Thanks a lot for the response!</p>

<p>Yup I’ll ask him once I get the chance to ^0^</p>

<p>So are you saying that even if you don’t play a song at a good performance level, if, for example, you play a song where you miss a few notes and is a lot harder than a song that you could play at a good performance level and make no mistakes, they’re mostly looking at how good you are (what skills do you have, your technique, your interpretation, etc.), not how good your performance was?</p>

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<p>Better to play something relatively easy really, really well than to make mistakes on a harder piece.</p>

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<p>I don’t think there are any easy answers to your question, but overall I think Stradmom is correct. People have done Mozart concertos at difficult programs and gotten in, even though technically compared to some of the buster Romantic concertos like the Tchaikovsky and Sibelius it is not as difficult…and it also depends on the audition panel. I have seen audition requirements that specify someone could do a Mozart concerto , usually with the words ‘like xxxx’, but also have heard from people I trust that a student would have to play it at an incredible level to get in, that the margin of error on that piece will be less then a more difficult one…which seems to contradict what Stradmom says but it doesn’t, it is why it is important to try and find out the reputation of programs, what they are looking for…</p>

<p>It also depends on how well you play the pieces as a whole. If you play the Mozart near perfectly and have a handle on the artistic elements, really feel confident about shaping and such as well as the technical issues, and have less comfort with a more difficult piece and where you are likely to make more then a few mistakes, do the Mozart IMO…but if you have the Mozart piece and something more difficult, and you feel comfortable with both pieces but feel like you might make a bit more mistakes with the more difficult one, you may want to choose the more difficult one, especially if you feel like on the Mozart you are solid but not spectacular…</p>

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<p>I agree with musicprnt that there are not simple answers. Mistakes can be forgiven if they are so minor that they don’t interfere with the overall musical ideas (most performers make “mistakes” when they play the more difficult works in the repertoire, but these mistakes are rarely heard by even discerning listeners; on the other hand, any wrong note will be heard in any Mozart or Haydn piano repertoire–I would never, ever send a student to an audition with Mozart or Haydn in which the assumption was that they would make mistakes–in that repertoire, the notes are all too exposed and wrong or missed ones will inevitably interfere with the musical ideas. Even the most difficult Mozart and Haydn are easy enough that good pianists just simply should not hit wrong notes.</p>

<p>In any case, one’s emphasis should never be on wrong vs. right notes; it should always be on making music and communicating musical ideas/thoughts/feelings. I’ve heard far too many student performances with all the right notes that are genuinely awful. Wrong notes certainly interfere with with musical ideas and if you are anticipating playing wrong notes in a Haydn or Mozart work, then you must choose something else. If you don’t have sufficient control to maintain 99.999% accuracy, then you don’t have sufficient control to devote your mental and physical energies towards making music at the level required for a good audition.</p>