Wort & Musik: Sonatas and Interludes

Florian Birsak switches masterfully between historical and modern pianos, while Rupert Huber narrates an evening that spans the centuries. Wolfgang Amadé Mozart kicks things off as the master of the most modern pianos of his time, with a piece whose title, Sonata facile—an “easy sonata”—should not obscure the fact that it is a brilliant work in the finest C major spirit. John Cage, one of the gurus of the avant-garde and a boundary-crossing all-rounder in the arts, was also capable of composing in a style that was almost old-masterly yet subtle. Muzio Clementi, an older contemporary of Mozart’s, lost a piano competition against him—or was it a tie after all?—but he was a brilliant pianist and composer. Erik Satie wanted to write music that would function like furniture, but his satirical pieces are full of contrarian wit and surprising melodies. Finally, Kurt Schwitters spent nine years, until 1932, refining his Dadaist sound poem *Ursonate*, which does without a piano entirely, yet follows a four-movement classical sonata form.