Mozart - Sonata in A major KV 331 (300i)

Published in 1784, Mozart's Sonata in A major "for clavier solo", with the famous Rondo "Alla Turca" finale, is one of the most popular works in the entire piano literature. Now a newly resurfaced section of the autograph has prompted Bärenreiter to issue an up-to-date Urtext edition of this celebrated piece. The editor, Mario Aschauer, has set new editorial standards and offers the most innovative methodological approach of our time. His scholarly-critical performance edition is the only one to remain entirely true to the sources by presenting the musical text of the autograph and the original print separately. Both forms of the sonata are historically legitimate; the editor has not merged the sources to produce a new text. The section on performance practice provides valuable information on Mozart's claviers as well as on the refinement of touch, articulation, pedalling and ornamentation. ú Foreword with new insights into the work's publication history (Eng/Ger) ú Optimum page-turns and well-presented engraving ú Critical Commentary (Eng) ú Includes valuable information onperformance practice The A major Sonata has always been one of Mozart's best-loved works. It begins with an intimate and elegant theme and variations movement marked Andante grazioso. Thus this composition differs from a usual sonata, as it has not a single movement in sonata form but is more akin to the divertimento form. Yet even here the movements are bound together by strong melodic and formal affinities. It is no accident that the end of the variation theme is repeated note by note at the end of the minuet, that the crossing of hands in the trio of the minuet is anticipated in variation IV, that the key of the finale (A minor) is prefigured in variation III, and that the ritornello of this famous Turkish march finale in A major is alluded to in measures 5 and 6 of the allegro variation.