Last August I warmly welcomed Ronald Brautigam’s first CD in his Mozart sonata series; the promise of that initial disc is amply fulfilled in this, the first complete set that I have heard on the fortepiano. He is a polished stylist and an accomplished technician, and he has quite a lot of interesting ideas about the music. As I wrote before about the earlier sonatas, there is a freshness and sense of novelty about his reading of them, and that is plain from the start, with his playing of the lovely Adagio that opens K282 (the only sonata starting with a slow movement), where there is some attractive expressive timing and delicate articulation of detail. The Minuet here has a nicely poised rhythm and in the finale, taken at a lively pace, there is still plenty of room too for lyrical touches. The popular G major Sonata K283 again combines lyricism and brilliance very happily, and humour too, with those left-hand interruptions in the recapitulation. Its Andante has a proper simplicity and an almost vocal eloquence, but I wondered if Brautigam let his virtuosity have slightly too much rein in the finale, where the rapid tempo doesn’t permit much clarity. In the last of the early group, K284, he happily catches the symphonic, almost pseudo-orchestral style that Mozart draws on for the first movement; the second, a Rondeau en Polonaise, which becomes increasingly elaborate on each recurrence, is appealingly done and very precisely articulated. I thought Brautigam allowed himself too much shaping in the finale’s variation theme; better, surely, to start simply, or this foursquare, short-breathed music will pall. Well, it doesn’t actually do that, but he would, I think, have done better not to point up the cadences so sharply. The spirit and character he brings to the individual variations saves the day.

Those first sonatas were probably written in Munich in early 1775; the next three date from the Mannheim-Paris journey of 1777-8. In the first movement of K309 I wondered if some of the accentuation was exaggerated, but as a whole the movement goes well, with lively playing in the development section, and the Andante un poco adagio – the movement in which Mozart sketched the character of Rosa Cannabich, the Mannheim Kapellmeister’s 15-year-old daughter – is done with much charm at a leisurely pace that allows ample time for each phrase to make its point. In the D major Sonata, K311 I felt, not for the first time or the last, that Brautigam was apt to rush his fences, launching into the passagework over-energetically in the first movement. But in the Andante the melodic line is beautifully drawn and the piano sound ‘orchestrated’ very effectively, while the finale, spirited yet perfectly controlled, emerges with real glitter. For the first movement of K310 Brautigam chooses a tempo significantly slower than usual (it is after all marked Allegro maestoso), and it comes out not only more pensive and inward than it generally does, and a good deal less fiery, but also as a whole more powerfully. I was also greatly impressed by the Andante, both for its expressiveness and in the development section, its drama.

The next group of sonatas, the well-known K330-32, is now thought to have been written in Salzburg during Mozart’s 1783 visit, or possibly in Vienna soon after his return. K330 is on quite a modest scale and Brautigam plays it with some delicacy and grace, although there are occasional clumsy accents, it seems to me, in the opening movement. The Andante, however, is outstanding: contemplative and refined in expression, and the finale is very neatly done. Another highlight of the set is the first movement of K331, where Brautigam uses the tonal resources of the fortepiano to excellent effect – listen to the lovely sound in the crossed-hands variation, and indeed the poetic eloquence of the next one. After an elegant Minuet, he plays the Rondo alla Turca a good deal more slowly than we are used to – it is after all marked Allegretto, which implies something less than virtuoso rapidity – and it comes out a bigger piece, justifying its substantial and showy coda. In K332 the first movement is freshly and appealingly done, though with more flexibility of tempo than one might like (and I am surprised Brautigam ignores the C sharp of the first edition – clearly Mozart’s ultimate intention – in bar 216; he follows the first edition text in the second movement); in the finale he chooses a fast tempo and tends to go bald-headed for the semiquaver passages, and the effect is not entirely happy.

At many points, in various of the sonatas, Brautigam is inclined to make excessive caesuras at cadences, especially those falling on the first beat of a bar. This at times seems like a mannerism; often I found myself wishing that he would keep a steadier rhythm. This certainly is the case in the opening movement of K333. However, the Andante here is simply and eloquently done, with particular warmth of tone. Again in the finale he is apt to rush at the passagework. The Fantasia K457 is a large-scale performance, of considerable passion and intensity, with a keen awareness of the expressive character of the harmony. Possibly some of the contrasts between piano and forte are overdone; anything that can be done on a fortepiano may reasonably be claimed as legitimate, but perhaps it’s a matter of good taste. The main Allegro section is very fierily played and the piano tone at the end is softly poetic in a way that eludes the modern instrument. This is followed by a fine and taut, agitated performance of the first movement of the K475 Sonata that belongs with it. At a number of points in the finale here Brautigam again seems to be almost tumbling over himself to pile up the tension.

The final CD contains four sonatas, including the magnificent K533. This always seems to me rather an austere piece, with its emphasis on linear counterpoint, and I should have preferred a rather more restrained reading of the first movement; but I hasten to add that Brautigam’s is nevertheless most compelling. So is the Andante, in spite of rather a lot of rubato (notably again those overdone cadence caesuras); there is much delicate playing, especially in the recapitulation, where incidentally Brautigam plays rather differently second time from first. The Rondo, composed earlier but adapted for its context in the sonata, is lighter music but done with with a clear and neatly etched, decorative line. Next comes the familiar K545, where the first movement is truly sparkling. The Andante is gentle and unassuming; Brautigam allows himself a little decoration in the final section, which indeed it needs if a schoolroom effect is to be avoided. Again, in the finale, he does not hurry, settling for a good allegretto tempo. In K570 the first-movement development seems rather perfunctorily done, but the Adagio is one of the best things in the set, tastefully simple but with a real feeling for the seriousness and depth of the music. The opening movement of K576, not taken too speedily, is nevertheless very lively and the dovetailing of the hands sounds deceptively easy. The Adagio is played gracefully and with keen sensibility, and the last movement is carried off with much brilliance.