I have to admit you completely lost me when you did not rate the A-minor sonata (and you certainly played it like you didn't like it). For me it is 3 movements of perfection - the adagio and finale are every bit as much genius, complementing and enhancing the first movement-- indeed the piece has a profound momentum that runs throughout all three movements. Don't get me wrong - I fully respect your opinion - you are allowed to not rate it of course!, but when you deviate so far from most critical opinion of the past 200 years - I was perhaps expecting more profound incite into why you disagreed with the received opinion - whereas I am left with a feeling the you've never heard a good performance of this sonata, or learned to play it well.
Hi there Alex, thanks for watching the video and for the well thought out comment. Really appreciate that. I think I'll respond here in length and then pin the comment so others will see it, kind of using your comment as a springboard (so I'll address a few other comments here as well). For starters, I really do like the Am sonata. I don't know if you watched the video (as opposed to skipping to the end) but I assume a vast numbers of commenters didn't watch the full thing. The reason I mention this is because many times throughout the video I mentioned how much I love the Mozart sonatas. I mainly do educational-style videos and occasionally make a tierlist like this. At times they can be a little discouraging because, despite them performing very well on RU-vid, ranking pieces people love too low tends to bring out a lot of negative/hateful comments (yours was not hateful in any way, I'm referring to other comments. Some of which I delete because the language used) . I love seeing the discussion about favorite pieces, but don't know how to avoid the hate from some. For example, my Beethoven tierlist has so many "you are a joke of a musician because you didn't rate ____ higher" Even though the piece requested varied greatly. And more importantly, despite the fact I LOVE Beethoven and mentioned throughout how I only move these pieces down relative to each other. I've make so many videos celebrating and teaching the greatness of Beethoven. So these tierlists get tons of likes, views, and positive comments, but also people clearly click on them to confirm their faves are at the top, skip to the end, and leave a negative comment when they don't see it. So as a RU-vidr who is education first, I typically don't have to deal this. I think "hey, it'd be fun to tell everyone which Mozart sonatas I like the most" or actually in this subscribers requested it. I wish the videos could be received in a more light/fun perspective. The reason I asked if you watched the whole video was because I took time at the beginning to mention how much I love the Mozart sonatas, and how not every piece can be at the top. I even specifically mentioned recently listening to my 2 lowest ranked pieces and being reminded how great they are. Probably 5 times throughout the video I mentioned how great the sonatas are, and I ended with something similar. So it's not that I hate this piece, but I just love others more. I don't know what to do about that. I simply really, really like some sonatas. Now I will say that I record these videos with my audience in mind. So many of my regular audience (and many new people) watch the whole video front to back, and it would simply be mind-numbing for me to repeat every single piece "I love all the sonatas, I like this one, but happen to love others more." So I don't. I mentioned it at the beginning, throughout, and the end, even named the tiers all positive things, but still when someone sees their fave go down, they forget that and assume I hate that piece. Yes, I make jokes sometimes, and try to express an opinion, but in this video in particular I tried to make it very clear how awesome the sonatas are. I will address one more thing about "you certainly played it like you didn't like it". I see this a lot so I'm referencing yours and other (harsher) comments here. When someone agrees with my ranking they say "You play great" "wow so musical", but when they don't agree it's often "you played like you don't like it" "if you played it better..." or "have you ever even listened to this before". A few important things. 1. I don't want to be an AI, computer-ish channel. Where I basically play peoples recordings, say a sentence or two, and rank them. That's kinda like stealing, but also very uninteresting. 2. Not everything I rank is up to playing/performance level. Some of the harshest comments are "if you could play..." I can, I've played several Mozart sonatas and many pieces harder than these. But no, I'm not practicing all of them (or all 32 Beethoven sonatas) before I turn on the camera, haha. I'm just trying to jog everyone's memory by giving a little sample or show a couple things here and there. Thanks again for watching and letting me jump on this comment. I felt like you expressed your thoughts really clearly so I was able to respond and hopefully give you a little of my perspective.
@@ryanabshier Thanks for the long reply - over and beyond what I had any right to expect! I assure you I don't watch ranking videos looking for agreement, just the opposite - but I do look for reasons - because that can be inspiring - making me look again (with new insight) at a musical piece I had not properly considered before. For instance, I have been actively playing Mozart's very first piano sonata again - only because of this video.
Agreed. K. 475 is one of the greatest sonatas ever written, and Beethoven had a very high regard for it, and incorporated a motive from the slow movement for his own great Pathetique Sonata.
@@timothythorne9464 Thank you Timothy. I need to listen to the slow movement carefully. I'm besotted with K. 475 and am delighted with the idea that Beethoven paid homage to Mozart's most remarkable opus.
@@marichristianIt's actually K. 457-- that's the Sonata in C Minor. Beethoven incorporated a phrase from the second theme in the Adagio movement of this sonata into his own Pathetique Sonata slow movement, curiously enough also in A Flat Major as was the Mozart slow movement. Now K. 475 actually refers to the Fantasie in C Minor which often precedes the Sonata K. 457 in performances.
@@KaikhosruShapurjiMedtner the big Bb, D. 960, has always been my favorite. Then I got to see Emanuel Ax perform it live and it just confirmed how much I adore it.
@ryanabshier hi great video, to be honest I love all the Mozart Sonatas, he really had a God given gift, and a genius of a composer, I am humbly speaking a self taught pianist and I fairly recently taught myself to play the 3 movements of the f major k332, and k331 theme 6 variations, and 3rd movement rondo alla turca, ( learning menuetto and trio) also recently taught myself the k309 1st and 3rd movements and learning k283, I am having a lot of fun embracing this challenge, and I am humbly pleased with what I have accomplished, I agree the k332 is very lyrical and I love the section in the middle where Mozart is like experimenting with Jazz over a 100 yrs before it was invented, in fact these pieces have a beauty and technical artistry, that is a pure joy to play, thanks for video, greetings from wales uk 😀
@@adrianthomas6244 Hey there, thanks so much for the kind words and message. Hope you keep learning some Mozart sonatas. You are right, they are all awesome and videos like this can make it seem like some are "bad". Mozart has to be one of the most consistent composers to ever walk the planet.
I'm one of those who feels that you totally under-ranked the A minor. All 3 movements are amazing, and the 2nd movement is a masterpiece. He wrote it around the time of his mother's death; I can't say I know if he was thinking of her when he wrote it; but when I play the Andante, I get an image in my mind of a mother's sweet and reassuring love, interrupted by a period of intense emotional turmoil, and then a return to that love, but this time wistful, a remembrance. I feel all those emotions as I play it - this piece is indeed not a "slight chuckle," as it has virtually no chuckles in it, but it does run a gamut of emotions.
My short remarks about all of Mozart's sonatas: No. 1 in C Major - ultra cheerful sonata, always a pleasure to listen to No. 2 in F Major - never seriously listened to it, second movement kind of good No. 3 in Bb Major - never gave it a thought No. 4 in Eb Major - light and calming No. 5 in G Major - attractive sonata that I enjoy listening to, but not too much to write home about No. 6 in D Major - IMHO, an inferior version of No. 9 No. 7 in C Major - never gave it a thought No. 8 in A Minor - full of pain and pathos, the second movement is one of the best thing Mozart ever wrote No. 9 in D Major - passionate and full of humor, always eyebrow-raising No. 10 in C Major - personal favourite, all three movements are delightful No. 11 in A Major - despite the popularity, I never liked the first movement as it feels a bit draggy No. 12 in F Major - the most operatic sonata, counterpoints are starting to emerge onwards No. 13 in Bb Major - calming and mature at the same time No. 14 in C Minor - paired with the fantasia, it's among the most influential pieces by Mozart. Personally not drooling over it, despite getting the appeal No. 15 in F Major - the most experimental and jarring sonata, counterpoints everywhere No. 16 in C Major - extremely easy to listen to, but never lost the charm to me No. 17 in Bb Major - never thought much about it, but the third movement is a delight No. 18 in D Major - fun and contrapuntal sonata, has a reputation for its difficulty
I have played the last D major (K.576) in many recitals and that one is my favourite. I'm sorry that you don't appear to like K.330, though! Personally, I find K.309 a bit bland.
Number 3 being at the bottom has like a stab in the heart, but 12 getting in the top almost healed me... almost My personal favourite is the 17th one, first movement is pretty cool, has fun parts but also very sentimental ones, the second one is utterly gorgeous, and the third is not that special if im being honest, but its still good fun for a 3rd movement The 10th one is also really good, I guess we have different tastes...
Thanks for checking out the video. I feel like #3 might move up the list over time. I probably first encounter it...12-15 years ago and really wasn't a fan. Just didn't speak to me. But now I'd say I enjoy it. I know being at the bottom always looks bad, but like I mentioned, I really do like all of them. Just relative to everything else... really shows Mozart wrote a lot of great music that the bottom tier is tough to fill. If I did Haydn sonatas for example (even though there is some Haydn I like as much or more than Mozart) the bottom tier would be easier to fill, more I don't like.
Ah, I see what you mean. That middle movement is handled and paced so expertly. Just going to make my life harder if I ever redo the tierlist 🤣 Already wanted Cm higher but ran out of room, so I can't fall more in love with anything else.
I enjoyed this video, and yes I watched the whole thing. I do think you did yourself a disservice by forcing distribution among tiers-if they're all great, they're all great. It's not zero-sum. Also I couldn't possibly disagree with you more about the Am, just stating for the record.
Thanks for being able to enjoy the video still while not agreeing with everything. It's a blessing to have that skill apparently 🤣🤣🤣 But yeah, I think I went too hard into the balance in this video. I do strongly believe there needs to be some degree of balance, because I have watched videos before where basically everything is top tier and the rankings mean very little (like if you looked up characters in a video game and half of them were S tier). But I could probably be off a couple and it wouldn't hurt too much and allow me more freedom. Thanks again for checking out the video and the nice comment. Glad you enjoyed it!
I've really enjoyed your personal evaluation, thank you, Ryan. Of course, there are quite a few that I disagree with - LOL - but, that's what makes this so interesting and fun. If we all thought and felt the same way, the world would be a very dull and boring place! I do think, though, that the Minuet and Trio from No.4 in E flat is the greatest minuet Mozart ever wrote, but you're allowed to disagree. Subscribed and looking forward to watching more of your videos.
This sonata is really great. I played it in the past in its entirety, and recorded the first two movements. I'm especially proud of my first movement. In the right hands, it sounds like magic
@brunoarielbenedetto1540 is absolutely correct.The A minor and C minor sonatas are among the greatest by any composer. So many concert pianists single out these two as their favourites. Among his favourite sonatas, Richard Goode singles out Mozart's no. 15 in F major and Beethoven's no. 28 in A major. I rate no. 15 above no. 11 (which I also love playing), and no. 10 was one of Mozart's personal favourites. The second movement is heavenly. I absolutely love ALL of Mozart's (and Beethoven's) sonatas. Nos. 2 & 4 deserve a higher rating. No. 6 is great. No. 7 has a wonderful 2nd movement -- and the Rondo is pure joy. No. 12 is among the most beautiful and perfect sonatas ever written. No. 15 has a second movement that sounds almost like something Brahms would have written, and the third movement has the sublime beauty of late Beethoven. The first movement has a subtle but great perfection -- and it has its challenges for the pianist. Alfred Brendel recorded it three times to finally get it right. I have worked a long time on it -- I am no concert artist, but I try to play the pieces in a manner worthy of the music.
Haha, what do you have at the top, or maybe more importantly, at the bottom. If it means anything, I filmed mine several weeks ago, so I didn't sneak into your house and copy your work 🤣🤣🤣
I thought about literally putting your name on the video 😅 Definitely thought about you while making it, you might have been the first to suggest the Mozart Sonatas.
You have Kochel catalogue numbers for all these sonatas --- use them! And I agree with other commenters that you have underrated K310. Its first and third movements are among my favourite Mozart movements.
All of these are really good. My personal favorite is no.12. (probably bias since it's the only Mozart Sonata I learnt at the moment) 3rd movement's also pretty underrated.
I believe most of these sonatas Mozart wrote for his pupils for study and recital. They were not meant to be concert pieces, so it's not surprising there is a kind of disappointment with them for many people. These were composed for intermediate to early advanced piano students, not accomplished professionals. Still, they are all beautiful compositions and I enjoy listening to them. I recommend the complete set by András Schiff. I find his rendition of #4, K. 282 (the E flat) my favorite in his set. I'm sorry you thought it was trash. But to each his own. Maybe you haven't heard Schiff?! :D
Always here for the Mozart videos! Have you checked out the LIVE IN MOSCOW version by Horowitz of the 10th? Not his other one at home, it doesnt compare. That live performance is the best anyone has ever done of any Mozart sonata to me (together with everything by Ingrid Haebler) and opened my eyes to that specific sonata. But my absolute favorites are 12, 13, 15 and 18.
Great vid. It's kind of funny that you didn't mention one of the most melodic slow movements in history(the second movement from no. 8 in Am) I agree about no. 11, that first movement might be my favorite movement of all. There are a lot of composers that wrote better for solo piano(Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms, Schumann, Schubert, etc.) but where Mozart excelled was orchestration. He had written a lot of symphonies before the first piano sonata was written. If I had to guess, I think he enjoyed writing for string instruments more. P.S. I should start a channel and do a John Field nocturnes ranking. ;p
Haha, I have a John Field video on my future plans list. Not quite sure how I'm going to do it yet, but it's written down. Maybe a tier list of John Field and Chopin at the same time. Haha
I'm sure I'll make a few jokes at his and maybe even Chopin's expense, but I don't currently have many negative thoughts about John Field...currently...
The k545 sonata drives me nuts as a teacher. I love the #8/9 in A Minor, both the D Major ones, A Major #11 C Major one and #2 and #12 in F Major. I’m a big Mozart fan though, and my students usually like him too
Yeah, K 545 type pieces can be frustrating because you hear them so much. I feel like it retains it's beauty for me more than most overfamous pieces though. Sounds like you really love Mozart and have great taste! Thanks for watching
To my ears (admittedly influenced by a jazz backround), Mozart is never-ending major & minor scales and triads, broken up only by the occasional diminished chord. The harmony is almost identical to that of nursery rhymes. Ok, now let me have it. :^>
Hello! My opinion: How gorgeous and emotional the second movement of the a minor sonata is, one can hear in Richters live performance (Richter-Mozart-Sonata K.310-part 2 of 2 (HD) by Pianoconc here on YT). I also recommend hearing Zimerman with the 330 (Krystian Zimerman plays Mozart Sonata No. 10 in C Major, K 330 (Complete)). Sokolov plays the finale of the c minor sonata in a very slow, heavy but romantical way. Best regards from Germany.
My ranking from best to worst: 18, 8, 12, 13, 16, 6, 17, 9, 4, 15, 10, 5, 14, 1, 7, 11, 2, 3 I now realize how hard it is to rank the Mozart sonatas. I don't think any of them is bad. I will probably change my mind if I fully listened to all of the sonatas again
I don't care much about Mozart's sonatas, but I do like K310. K310 and K466 are probably the only Mozart pieces that I really like. I really don't know which sonata is which number lol, would be great it you include opus number or indices like K/BWV/S in your videos.
Gould's interpretations of the Mozart sonatas are interesting. For someone who claimed not to like Mozart, he played some of them disgracefully tongue-in-cheek (i.e. the A major 1. movement theme and variations), and others quite angelically. His version of the C minor is lovely IMO, while the A minor is terrible. Having played the C minor to death in several competitions and student recitals I've become heartily sick of it, but I do love the A minor. Have to agree with the one who mentioned Lipatti, his version is the best!
I think the A minor first movement should go slower (allegro maestoso), and the Turkish march as well (only marked allegretto). The usual tempi all these sonatas are played at tends to make them sound trite.
i think all of the d majors are amazing but the last one as as well as b flat no13, and aminor no8 are S tier in my opinion, i think im a litle bias as they are also the pieces that are most played by the great mozart interpreters and your much less likely to be subjected to bad versions of them 🤣
I’ve only played the Turkish march, the first movement of the no.8 in A minor, and the first mvt of no.12 in F major I think… but I’m more of a romantic guy…
most people enjoy the romantic era more, i think just because romantic music is normally more "expressive" and melodic, and because most classical and baroque music is a different way of listening which takes more listening to understand
@@karrotkakea lot of (late) Romantic music also needs a lot of listening to understand, but that's not quite the issue. In essence, Romantic music requires more listening because they are adventurous (or weird, for a lack of better term) so you gotta have some time to be accustomed to. In the end, you end up with a more refined harmony taste after listening to "weird" Romantic music. However, Classical music needs accustomed not because of unfamiliarity. Rather, it seems so familiar to you that you never stopped to think "What is this piece trying to do?". I think getting into actual music analysis is a very satisfying endeavour to understand Classical-era (Mozart in particular) music.
@@FrostDirt well for me i think the main issue with getting into classical era music was that in my head it sort of all sounded really similar in my head, where the romantic era was when composers started expanding and innovating alot more, and like you said, its difficult to understand what the composers were trying to achieve. although once i started listening to classical music more i started to see that it wasnt as much about excitement and thrill, but more about consistency in form and harmony. alot of romantic music is often more about leading to huge climaxes, whereas classical music of mozart or haydn is more about keeping consistency all throughout the music (sorry if i explained it poorly, its kinda hard to word my thoughts lmao). romantic music can take a lot of listening to understand, but what im trying to say is that classical music is just a different type of listening in a sense
@@justintimetoclashandbrawl3348 same, i mean romantic music can also take a while to get into but what im saying is classical music just takes a different kind of listening to understand
Thanks for the video. But: I find it somewhat pityful that you don't really try to give some arguments for or against the various sonatas, all boiles down to what you like or don't. But why? Can you name some reasons that really come from a discussion of musical quality, originality, complexity, "folkyness", seriosity. Mozart lived in an era that was full of conventions (think for example of the Alberti bass as a very conventional means to accompany a tune), but in some of his sonatas he followed more the conventions, in others he played with them in very spiritful and witty ways. Mozart was a master of nuances, and some of the sonatas ar just marvellous in that sense, others not so much. Then there is Mozart's geeting accquainted with the polyphonic music of Bach via the library of the Baron van Swieten. His late sonatas in D Major and F major are exquisit examples of how Mozart incorporated the polyphonic experience into his own classical style and made the sonatas more contrapuntally complex and multi-layered. I love the most his sonatas where he comes up with a lot of thematic material in one single movement, but manages to keep everything cohesive and together by combining the different ideas with some hidden similarities that make them familiar with each other. Take for example the first movement of the C Major sonata KV 330 that thrwos in new ideas every next moment, but so many ideas---although each of them seeming very individual---are bound together by exposing the shift from the tonic to the subdominant as their main harmonic color. So there is a big sense of unity and belonging together in all the variety on display in this movement. Or see the relationship between the first theme and the secondary theme in the sonata B flat Major KV 333: Two very distinct and different tunes, but both play with the interesting role of the 6th scale degree, serving as some magical limit for the melodic invention, a boundary that cries out to be broken and superceded. I also love very much the F Major sonata KV 332, in my opinion because of the constant dramatic changes between lighthearted, innocent tunes and dark, threatening ones. I think of this movement as Mozart's "Dr. Jekhill and Mr. Hyde Sonata", always shifting between those two characters.
Actually not being a Mozart fan at all, I only recognized the really popular pieces. Even though I know it’s very difficult to play Mozart well, the reason I don’t like Mozart is that each piece just “sounds” easy. I’m much more of a Beethoven fan.
I've played one of the 4 hands sonatas so I know what you mean listening or playing. I did just solo piano for this one, but I could see including them as well.
I am not a huge fan of mozart. I play cello and mozart diddnt wrote enything for cello and hes other works are not interesting for me I like beethoven more. You too right?
@@daniloapostolov-dacatv1536 I see that at the end of my edition. Hmm, I feel like I noticed that flipping through years ago but I did forget about it. Which version do you like better?
when you rank the A minor at this rank i know your evaluation is a joke. A minor is the piece played by the great Lipati at his last concert before his death.
I typically ignore these types of comments, but something about yours makes me feel inclined to respond. Lots of videos exist where people say their "favorite" pieces. When these videos match exactly with the general population, these creators are either just pandering to the audience, or even if not, tons of comments will say things like, "bruh get your own opinions, stop simping, bro has zero uniqueness". But when someone like me expresses a preference, we have to have comments like yours. Saying you enjoy a piece is one thing, even mentioning great performances is awesome and beneficial, but calling a ranking a joke because it doesn't line up with yours is such an odd opinion. You have opinions and preferences, and I'd hope if you did a similar exercise of ordering your favorite Mozart sonatas you would have some that line up with the masses (like some of mine do) and some that don't. Keep in mind, I said many times throughout the video "I like, I enjoy, I rank". Music is subjective so I suppose there's no definition ranking system out there, but I try to make it pretty clear these are my takes on what I like. And again, if you completely line up 100% with the most listened to/loved Mozart sonatas, that's great. But not everyone does. Some pieces speak to different people. Just look at a tierlist like my Beethoven sonatas. An entire comment section of "My favorite is 2, or 7, or 8, or the Bbs, or Tempest, or The Hunt, or Waldstein or Appassionata..." Point is probably 20 different sonatas mentioned as "shocked it wasn't higher". So that means many people loving many different things, which is awesome.
@@ryanabshier first, I want to thank you for the video. It was very enjoyable for me to watch. Now I'll say my piece: In your explanation, you refer only to the first movement, and say that you like how it starts but don't like where it goes, which is completely fine on it's own. I respect your ranking, however, to me, how you go about explaining your decision makes it seem that you only remember the start of the sonata. It's no wonder that many in the comment section are calling this out; this sonata is regarded highly, and not giving it a proper judgement is going to get voices raised. I urge you to listen to Sokolov's take on this one. You might change your mind, or perhaps you might stand by your ranking. I just can't accept how you glossed over this sonata so casually.
