I'm looking for a list that shows the level of difficulty in Mozart's Piano Sonatas. I have looked online but so far have not been successful. If anyone knows, please post a link.

Or - does anyone here have Hinson's Guide to Piano Repertoire? I just need to know about a couple sonatas - what level they are ranked. Maybe you can look it up for me?

I have a Hinson. I only have it with me because I tried to sell it at the campus bookstore, but the new keyboard lit prof doesn't require it, so the bookstore won't buy it.

Easy, Intermediate (Int.), Moderately Difficult (M-D), and Difficult (D).

K279 - M-D
280 - M-D
281 - M-D
282 - M-D
283 - M-D
284 - M-D to D

309 - M-D
310 - M-D
311 - M-D
330 - M-D
331 - M-D
333 - M-D
457 - D
494/533 - D
545 - M-D
547a - M-D
570 - M-D
576 - D

I think that is all of them.

Thank you so much, Theresa! A couple of those surprise me a little.

And if you still wish to sell the book, I can buy it from you. (I'll give you a better price than the bookstore, plus pay for the shipping.)

Do they surprise you because they are rated too hard? There are a lot of them I think would be less than 'moderately difficult', but Hinson emphasizes in the beginning of his Mozart section that he thinks playing Mozart on piano 'requires a special sensitivity and grace that most young students do not have.' I have heard that opinion elsewhere, too, but I'm not sure I agree with it.

Yes, that is what I meant. I know that playing Mozart is not as easy as it looks. I'm glad to know that the one I'm going to work on is rated M-D, because at least I can probably get the notes and rhythm fairly easily. Just have to work hard on the style and technique. Although, I feel that the 'style' is already built in, as long as you pay attention to the articulation, rests, and phrasing. Guess that is what 'technique' is all about.

My belief is that all music is extremely difficult no matter if it is Bartok's "10 Easy Pieces" or Balakirev's "Islamey" or Cziffra's arrangment of the Flight of Bumble Bee. Trying to play a twenty note composition convincingly and with emotion is very hard, in my hyper-inflated two cent opinion

Well, I don't think all music is extremely difficult, but I am changing my mind about what I said about playing Mozart. Of course adhering to the articulation, rests, and phrasing is important, as it is in all music. But I now also wonder about the pedaling - how much is acceptable and all that. I've never really researched what the ideas are currently about how to play Mozart.

Who died and made "masters" the power to decide how to play Mozart? The way, say, Brendel plays Mozart is not absolute. We cant revive (or find for that matter) Mozart and ask him. So deciding the correct way is somewhat arbitrary: we just have to play as written, the way Mozart (I think) intended it to be.

I do not trust myself in judging how to play certain music because I am only an amateur who has not had the training like that of the pros. They've had the top teachers in the world, they've studied music for many years, and have also been playing it for many years. Plus, they've been around other musicians who belong in that upper echelon of musicians, so I think they know a thing or two about how to interpret classical piano music.

To play Mozart just the way it is written is probably a safe bet, though, because I'm finding that the recordings I have listened to recently (I've only listened to three so far - Brendel, Uchida and Barenboim), they play basically the same way - just following what is on the score. Although I was happy to hear all of them do this one thing with dynamics in this one spot in the music that I myself do and it's not written in the score.

My dear madam, I believe you just answered your own question. Now play your piano and make beautiful,beautiful Mozart music

IMHO, I think playing Mozart "well" is very difficult. For one thing, there is the nature of the two pianos involved. The one he composed for and the one we play today. So interpreting his works just by definition is almost like apples to oranges. His music is so boundless in energy and yet requires a certain amount of control and simplicity that is quite difficult. From my point of view, I love to hear gifted pianists play Mozart. It is somewhere close to heaven.........

I agree that there is nowhere to hide when playing Mozart. I am not an expert in his music, so I wonder if there is as much debate about pedaling as there is when talking about Bach's music. Since Mozart came later, I would think it okay to just 'do your own thing, but I don't know if that kind of attitude is acceptable nowadays.

Hi Monica, may I ask you which sonata of Mozart you're going to work on?
(BTW thank you for the email!)

Hey If it means anything I have this cool mp3 at home of Eunice Norton talking about and playing mozart sonatas.

She talks about phrasing, pedal, bass, limited use of rubato, endings, etc. She told this funny story about Arthur Shnabel who would say never use any pedal in Mozart. In reality if you watched his feat, he used pedal all the time in mozart sonatas. I guess the key was he used very limited pedal and in key spots only Admittedly there is usually more then 1 way to do things

In the Rosen Beethoven Companion, he tells how Beethoven thought that Mozart's playing was too "choppy" which Rosen takes to mean that Mozart used very little pedal.

If this is true, we can also take it to mean that there were varying ideas of pedal usage within the "Classical Style".

Remember also that most of the pianos that Mozart used did not have pedals but rather knee levers. To lift all of the dampers would require you to activate the levers for both knees. It may well have been more difficult to apply subtle pedaling.

IMHO, one has to make the music sound on the instrument at hand. Modern pianos (or is the plural "piani") are substantially different and therefore if the resources available truly help to convey the music, use them.

Scott