Mozart: Variations for Piano, K. 573, K. 353 and K. 180

Mozart had a sweet spot for variations, often using opera arias or tunes that were famous at the time, transforming them with the greatest skill and fantasy. The piano writing is highly virtuosic and at times also very humorous, displaying his perfect knowledge of how to bring out the best possible sonorities of the instrument, but also rendering the variations much more difficult to present than his sonatas, requiring not only pianistic skills at the highest level, but also an intimate knowledge of performance practice in Mozart´s days. Since several of the variations can be linked to Mozart´s encounters with various celebrities at the time, such as Salieri or Gluck, it can be assumed that he used them as his ”businesscard”, a way of presenting himself to his famous colleagues not merely as a piano virtuoso but also as a composer – and what a wonderful way of presenting oneself!

David Ernst Molnar, piano. Recorded in 2015 and 2016.