This disc is a reissue of recordings made ten years
ago and has been fitfully available since then. Roberte Mamou recorded
the complete Mozart piano sonatas on five CDs, and these are now available
once again. Their return is to be welcomed, since the performances are
stylistically sensitive and the recordings generally natural and clear.
Mamou plays a modern instrument rather than a fortepiano,
but the insert notes tell us precious little about the circumstances
of the recording and the background and music are disposed of within
four short paragraphs. The notes we have are rather good; in fact, offering
several useful insights in a fluently written style. There just needs
to be more substance than this.
The Tunisian-born pianist Roberte Mamou is based in
Europe, and has worked mostly in Belgium. She has just the right manner
for this repertoire, always seeming to choose an appropriate tempo and
to phrase with care for the musical line and the thematic personality.
When these things feel as spontaneous and natural as they do here, the
performer can take due credit.
The D major Sonata, K284 was written in Salzburg in
1774, when Mozart was eighteen. Perhaps he intended to perform it in
Munich, when he went there for the premiere of his opera La Finta
giardiniera. The most striking feature of this piece is the extended
finale in variation form, lasting some 19 minutes out of nearly thirty
minutes for the whole piece. This is Mozart's longest sonata to date
and how to maintain the tension across the time span is clearly an issue
for the performer. Mamou is pretty successful, although in truth the
music itself does not entirely justify its indulgent scale. A wider
range of phrasing and associated dynamic shadings might have helped
in this regard; but perhaps the point is the nature of the music itself.
Mozart would achieve greater mastery of variation form in his Viennese
years.
The jewel in the crown of this particular collection
is the performance of the C major Sonata, K309. This dates from rather
later, from the winter of 1777-8, when Mozart was at Mannheim en route
for Paris. His intended audience is therefore unclear, but no matter,
since the music is so good. Here the three movements achieve a more
satisfying balance, with a charming and sensitive Andante at the centre.
The Rondeau finale, an Allegretto grazioso, displays
the merits of Mamou's Mozart playing particularly well, and of the recording
too. The shaping and phrase structure seem just right, projecting a
natural and flowing momentum which is quite unforced. The dynamic shadings
are sensitive and perfectly judged, so too the clean articulation of
the tricky series of scales which provide the virtuoso element in this
delightful sonata.
With the inclusion of an equally pleasing performance
of the D major Sonata, K311, this disc is a most welcome addition to
the catalogue.
Terry Barfoot
Roberte Mamou (piano) 
