Mozart: Piano Sonatas K. 281, K. 284, K. 310 & Fantasia K. 475 Ran Jia

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791): Piano Sonata in B-Flat Major, K. 281:
• 1 Mozart: Piano Sonata in B-Flat Major, K. 281: I, Allegro 04:31
• 2 Mozart: Piano Sonata in B-Flat Major, K. 281: II. Andante amoroso 05:10
• 3 Mozart: Piano Sonata in B-Flat Major, K. 281: III. Rondeau (Allegro) 04:25
• Piano Sonata in D Major, K. 284, “Dürnitz”:
• 4 Mozart: Piano Sonata in D Major, K. 284, “Dürnitz”: I, Allegro 05:08
• 5 Mozart: Piano Sonata in D Major, K. 284, “Dürnitz”: II. Rondeau en Polonaise (Andante) 04:51
• 6 Mozart: Piano Sonata in D Major, K. 284, “Dürnitz”: III. Tema con variazione 15:24
• Piano Sonata in A Minor, K. 310:
• 7 Mozart: Piano Sonata in A Minor, K. 310: I. Allegro maestoso 05:32
• 8 Mozart: Piano Sonata in A Minor, K. 310: II. Andante cantabile con espressione 10:48
• 9 Mozart: Piano Sonata in A Minor, K. 310: III. Presto 03:05
• Fantasia in C Minor, K. 475:
• 10 Mozart: Fantasia in C Minor, K. 475 10:48
• Total Runtime 01:09:42

Info for Mozart: Piano Sonatas K. 281, K. 284, K. 310 & Fantasia K. 475

The Chinese pianist Ran Jia gained international attention for her extraordinary interpretations of Franz Schubert’s piano works. Tan Dun praised her as a ‘piano poet with dramatic skill in music-making’ and her Schubert recordings were ranked alongside famous Schubert albums by Kempff, Lupu and Richter. Now Ran Jia, who was appointed professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 2022, is releasing her new album, which she dedicates to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s poetic sonata cosmos.

And she has chosen the programme with care, as it exemplifies the development of Mozart’s sonata oeuvre: from the emancipation of the sonata, still inspired by Haydn, to the independent concert piece and the opening up of new dimensions of expression that point ahead to the Romantic period.

The programme begins with the early B flat major Sonata K. 281, which still has some Haydnian traits and, with its cornucopia of exuberant ideas, is sometimes reminiscent of scenes from an opera buffa.

The ‘Dürnitz Sonata’ K. 284 – named after Thaddäus Freiherr von Dürnitz – is one of Mozart’s most technically and musically demanding sonatas, the climax of which is probably the most important variation movement in Mozart’s sonata cosmos in terms of its variative fantasy and emotional depth. The sheer overwhelming change of emotions, ranging from deep melancholy to exuberant humour, is remarkable.

The fact that Mozart opened up completely new dimensions of expression for the sonata form in this creative phase can also be heard in the Sonata in A minor K. 310 – here, sombre tones predominate, the light and cheerful only appearing as a contrasting foil to the prevailing melancholy and gloom. The piece surprises not only with the subjectivity of its statement, but also with its proximity to Romantic concepts.

Ran Jia concludes the album with the C minor Fantasy K. 475. Mozart prefaced the piece with a prelude to the first of his ‘Viennese Sonatas’; however, the Fantasy is also extremely revealing as a stand-alone piece of music: Mozart draws a radical conclusion here from his previously tried and tested idea of combining the sonatas with poetic content. In the form of the fantasia, the poetic content alone is allowed to determine the form: Tragedies and elation, strokes of fate and happy coincidences – it is life experience turned into music that is heard here.

‘Ran Jia begins the C minor Fantasy with tense calm and very accurate phrasing, precisely tracing the hysterical excitement, pathos and tragic rigour. The bass also bursts in with tragic force in the first movement of the A minor Sonata - it could be a touch wilder and more unbridled. The chasing hopelessness of the finale is also well captured, but could also be even more unbridled here. Sometimes you can play more than ‘accurately’... The fact that the bass hand sounds so powerful is also due to the recording technique: You rarely hear such rich depths in the piano bass. We will be hearing more from Ran Jia.’ (Rainer W. Janka, klassik-heute.de)

Ran Jia, piano

Ran Jia
is regarded as a striking musician with unusual natural abilities. Tan Dun hailed her a “piano poet with dramatic skill in music making.” William Grant Nabore, the director of international Piano Academy Lake Como appraised her "Ran Jia is one of the finest pianists of her generation. She has qualities that are as rare as precious on the music scene today: poetry and and artistry. She is a phenomenal pianist! Just listen to her!“

Born in China, Ms. Jia began studying piano at the age of three and made her solo debut in 1995. In May 2004, Ms. Jia played a recital at the Heluting Concert Hall at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Her recital was received with great enthusiasm by the audience and the media. Oriental TV broadcasted two documentaries featuring Ms. Jia’s life as a young artist including her live performance at the Conservatory. In November 2005, Ms. Jia made her debut at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall with her teacher, Gary Graffman, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467 under Maestro Li Jian.

In 2006, Ms. Jia played a return, sold-out concert at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and a performance of two Mozart concerti with the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra at the Shanghai Concert Hall. She has been featured in a live concert on Chicago’s classical music station WFMT as well as a worldwide broadcast on WQXR in New York of a concert in honor of Thelonius Monk’s 90th birthday for which she was the only classical pianist invited to performan. Ms.Jia made an acclaimed European recital debut at the Klavierfestival Ruhr in the summer of 2008 playing two Schubert sonatas. The press commented “She refines each moment, each development, each transition of a melody to the next...With marvelous impressive elegance in touch she feels her way into Schubert’s language – sometimes with dolorous sweetness, sometimes with thunderous rage, then again with a sparkling style, to then go back to a Beethovian energy. There are no fractures, no stutters, no technical hurdles – with this pianist the structures and sounds flow naturally on its own...Tremendous.”

In 2009 Ms. Jia made her Vancouver Symphony Orchestra subscription debut under Maestro BramwellTovey. In the summer of 2010, Ms. Jia toured the southern cities of China, performing Saint Saens Concerto No. 2 with Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra under Guoyong Zhang. She made her debut at the Miami International Piano Festival in May 2010, a recital which was recorded and recently released on VAI International as a DVD. Other engagements include performances at Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Dresdner Musikfestspiele, Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, debuts in DusseldorfTonhalle, MunichHerkulesssaal, and Ludwigshafen, Germany, and with the Hong Kong Philharmonic.

Her recent performances include concerts at the Shanghai International Piano Festival, ‘MISA’ Summer festival Shanghai, a sold out recital at Shanghai concert hall, At the Kumho Art Hall in Seoul, Korea, Franz Liszt Festival at Grottammare Italy, Albert Konzerte series in Freiburg, Germany, Festival de la Haute Claree in Nevache, France; She made her debut with Shanghai Oper House, Jenaer Symphoniker, Würzburg Symphonische Orchester in Germany, Bruckner Orchestra in Linz, Austria, English Chamber Orchestra, and State Youth Orchestra of Armenia. She also made a recording of two Schubert sonatas under French Label Artalinna and will be released world-widely in 2015.

In season 2015-16, she will make her debut with China Phiharmonic Orchestra, Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, Hangzhou Phiharmonic Orchesra and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra unter Maestro Claus Peter flor, Marcus Bosch and Chung Myung-whun. She will also make her first appearance in Abu Dhabi.

Ran Jia studied with Gary Graffman at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and the Mater and Konzertexam degree with Prof. Nina Tichman at the Hochschule für Musik, Köln and she is enrolled by the International Piano Academy Lake Como in Italy, studying under Maestro William Grant Nabore.

Booklet for Mozart: Piano Sonatas K. 281, K. 284, K. 310 & Fantasia K. 475