Mozart | Fantasy & Sonata in C minor, K.475/457

Following K. 333 (315c), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote no more sonatas until the great C minor Sonata, K.457 of October 1784. Meanwhile he was writing and performing piano concertos – five in quick succession in 1783/84 (K.449, 450, 451, 453 and 456) – for his subscription concerts in Vienna. It is no wonder, then, that the virtuoso brilliance on which the success of his subscription concerts depended can be detected in his later compositions. However, the C minor Sonata offers more than this. The shattering expression of personal anguish and the new language of its music set this sonata at the beginning of a new epoch. This is the work that made the deepest impression on Mozart’s direct contemporaries and successors, especially on the young Beethoven.

This edition is part of ABRSM’s ‘Signature’ Series of authoritative performing editions of standard keyboard works, prepared from original sources by leading scholars. It includes an informative introduction and performance notes.