Viktorie Švihlíková: Ammer Thüringen harpsichord
Recording date May 1956.
Released unknown year by Supraphon, Czechoslovakia, LPM 297

Thanks to Robert Tifft the webmaster of the European Revival Harpsichordists
( for providing all the documentation and already cleaned up acoustic material to make this publication possible.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Side A
Sonata No. 17 in D major, K. 576
00:00 I Allegro
03:52 II Adagio
09:18 III Allegretto
Side B
Sonata No. 15 in C major “Facile”, K. 545
13:36 I Allegro
16:37 II Andante
21:15 III Rondo, Allegretto

22:52 Sonata No. 11 in A major, K. 331 Rondo alla Turka

There are composers whose place in the
history of music would have been assured
even if they had done noth i ng else but ach ieve
good results in only one of the many branches
of composition . Mozart is a case in point. He
would have merited fame even though his
work were limited to any Single one of the
fields of musical actiVity-symphony, opera,
chamber music, oratorio or concertante music.
For he was always capable of creating
works which, fully representative of the character
of the form involved and fulfilling its
specific demands, combined at the same time,
in a well-balanced synthesis, the achievements
of the foregoing generations with a
new and individual approach to the working”
out of a composition, thus preparing the
path for futu re development. Though it is
difficult to be certain as to which of the various
forms of music Mozart really preferred
(their relative importance was constantly
shifting even during his life under different
circumstances and inner pressures) we can
yet make more than a guess as to which of ‘
them was most intimately connected with
the composer’s inner being : it is his pianistic
creations which, particularly during certain
periods of his life, assumed the character of
a “musical commentary” on what was going
on in the now tenderly sensitive, now painfully
hurt or childishly rejoicing but always
pure and chaste soul of the composer. Si nce
the first pianistic successes of the six-yearold
virtuoso the pi anoforte had not only been
his favourite instrument but also a faithful
companion in his human and artistic fortunes .
Neither must we forget the original mission
of these compositions.
Mozart used publicly to perform only his
piano concertos or his virtuoso variations
(which he was wont to improvise on the spur
of the moment). Piano sonatas, on the other
hand, if not written for just one individual
person, were destined almost exclusively for
an intimate inner circle of friends of music.

#Ammer #ViktorieŠvihlíková