Bart van Oort is one of today’s foremost fortepiano players. After winning the Mozart Fortepiano Competition in Bruges in 1986 he was instantly recognised as a master of his instrument, exploring the rich possibilities of the fortepiano and using his immense historical and musicological knowledge for a better understanding of the Viennese classical style of Haydn and Mozart.

This set of complete piano sonatas by Mozart was part of van Oort’s 14-CD set of Mozart’s Complete Keyboard Works (BC 92178), a set which was praised in the press unanimously: “His Mozart, played with a fine sense of style and smooth technique reached an emotional depth… (Washington Post), and “lively, sympathetic, light flowing touch, expression of feeling” (International Piano Choice).

Brilliance, fluency, clarity and extraordinary communicative powers – Mozart seems to have had them all. Little wonder he was hailed as the finest pianist of his generation. Even rivals such as Clementi commented ‘I had never heard anyone play with so much spirit and grace…’. Of course, we have no idea how Mozart the keyboard player sounded. We have the reviews and comments of those who heard him perform, and we have the instruments of his time.

These do take us some way to understanding performance practice of the day, and the limitations of the instruments, and how composers of the late 18th century worked to test the instruments and to make greater demands upon the constantly evolving fortepiano.

On this first complete cycle using instruments of the period, Bart van Oort relishes the timbral possibilities of five carefully restored and copied instruments to convey Mozart’s music as directly as possible without the necessary “translation” when playing a modern grand. This results in a great clarity of sound and structure.