On Mozart Matures: 1780s Piano Works, pianist Roberta Rust perceptively explores Mozart’s personal artistic journey and progression from an extraordinary talent to an immortal giant of musical composition. Largely eschewing the popular tunes, Rust instead carefully handpicked musical selections designed to showcase the composer’s structural, technical, and harmonic development...

Pianist Roberta Rust is a talented extemporizer on the piano herself, so it comes as no surprise to see that many of the pieces on Mozart Matures are those originally conceived as improvisations. There are the two Fantasies in 'D minor' and 'C minor', but also the quirky, prescient 'Gigue' which Mozart hastily wrote into a German friend’s friendship album. And lest things get out of hand, the calmer 'Adagio in B minor' as well as the 'Rondo in A minor' round off the selection with timeless depth and serenity.

Rust plays these pieces with all the emotion and tenderness that you'd expect a lover of the source material to pour out. It's remarkable. It's obvious she knows each piece intimately, but she still manages to convey a freshness of one discovering the pieces for the first time.

It goes without saying, but lovers of classical music really do need to add this to their library. I wonderful collection of some of Mozart's most intriguing pieces.

Track listing

01 - Fantasy in D minor, K. 397 (6:10)
02 - Sonata No. 12 in F major, K. 332: I. Allegro (5:13)
03 - Sonata No. 12 in F major, K. 332: II. Adagio (4:29)
04 - Sonata No. 12 in F major, K. 332: III. Allegro assai (5:47)
05 - Adagio in B minor, K. 540 (9:50)
06 - Eine kleine Gigue in G major, K. 574 (1:38)
07 - Fantasy in C minor, K. 475 (13:00)
08 - Rondo in A minor, K. 511 (10:16)

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Darren Rea