Recording Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s piano and violin sonatas is a tour de force. Thirty-six works spanning more than a quarter of a century, from childhood to the last years of the composer´s short life, so long of art, of the great master of Salzburg.

The scope of this microcosm of Mozart’s production can already be seen when observing the Andante of the “Sonata for piano and violin in F major, K 376”, weaving a duet that could well be listened in the opera “Don Giovanni”. There is, however, more than that. After all, the relevance of this set itself in the history of the sonata and in much later works can be seen, as indicated by the distinct echo of the beginning of the “Sonata for piano and violin in G major, K 379” in the introduction to the “Concerto Op. 58” by Beethoven (in the same key, but in another century).

Violinist and conductor Claudio Cruz and pianist Olga Kopylova bring together worldwide renowned experience and talent in carrying out this project.

For the second volume of their Mozart series, in a crystal-clear recording even in the densest passages, the duo Cruz-Kopylova turns to the sonatas K 296, K 376, K 377, K 378, K 379 and K 380, composed between 1778 and 1781. The musicians guarantee the attribute of spontaneity to the composer’s always detailed thought, so often laconic in writing. Throughout the entire interpretation, details of touch, time, musical phrases, and balance between the parts are outlined, which intertwine as if there were no other way to perform these sonatas. With that, a key to Mozart’s expression is distinguished from beginning to end in this record: the naturalness that only mastery and musical ingenuity achieve.

Release by Daniel Bento – @enxerguemusica