Pianoroll

This month I played at a master class conducted by Richard Goode, following his recital here in Jerusalem. I played Mozart’s Sonata in C major, K330.
Here are selections from the master class. The full lesson was one hour. Because Youtube limits the length of videos to 10 minutes, I broke up the lesson into six videos. The link is to the first video, which begins with my playing the first part of the sonata and continues with Richard Goode talking about the operatic nature of the music. There is a link from the first video to the second one, and so on, should you want to see the continuation of the lesson.

Richard Goode’s approach to this lesson (and to K330) could be summarized as “interpretation by analogy with opera,” highlighting the different characters, colors, styles, and dynamics present in the music. He said that Mozart was first and foremost an opera composer. (Others have told me that my playing should be more colorful, but most of the time I like a certain matter-of-fact, understated quality in my style). I fully agree with Richard Goode, however, that Mozart combines all qualities and opposites in this sonata (light and dark, happy and sad…).
I learned a lot from this master class, not necessarily about opera but more about style and touch. I was amazed by his Mozart touch, by the grace and elegance with which he plays Mozart. I had some difficulty picking up on his idea of representing colors and opera characters in playing the sonata because this is not my usual style.

Richard Goode conducted a series of master classes as guest of the Aldwell Center, at the Conservatory of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and at the Jerusalem Music Center. The Aldwell Center offers young pianists a rich program of workshops and master classes with some of the greatest pianists and teachers of our time.