Mozart Sonates - K.281, K.545 & K.310 Ludwig Sémerjian ACD2 2243 The pianoforte used for the present recording was built in the workshop of Anton Gabriel Walter during the closing years of the 18th century.   Walter was born near Stuttgart in 1752 and had settled in Vienna in 1780 a year before Mozart's arrival in that city.   At that time, the Austrian capital shared honours with Paris and London as a centre of European culture.   As the conditions for artistic productivity in Paris deteriorated in the course of the Revolution, Vienna's predominance increased.   Politically splintered Germany had numerous princely courts where music and the arts were cultivated, but an art-conscious bourgeois audience that was sizeable and sophisticated enough to encourage innovative creativity did not yet exist.   Of the great continental centres, Vienna alone had a large enough population of music-lovers and potential patrons to be able to simultaneously attract three of musical history's greatest personalities: Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. … Ludwig Sémerjian The Instrument - Fortepiano Anton Walter, Vienne, end 18th century Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) Sonate en si bémol majeur K. 281 (Salzbourg, v. 1774) Sonata in B flat major K. 281 (Salzburg, ca. 1774) Sonate B-dur KV 281 (Salzburg, um 1774)     17:51   1. Allegro     5:54   2. Andante amoroso     7:50   3. Rondeau: Allegro     4:07 Sonate en do majeur K. 545 (Vienne, 1788) Sonata in C major K. 545 (Vienna, 1788) Sonate C-dur KV 545 (Wien, 1788)     11:18   4. Allegro     3:59   5. Andante     5:44   6. Rondo     1:35 Sonate en la mineur K. 310 (Paris, 1778) Sonata in A minor K. 310 (Paris, 1778) Sonate a-moll KV 310 (Paris, 1778)     22:57   7. Allegro maestoso     10:06   8. Andante cantabile     9:51   9. Presto     3:00 ATMA Classique is distributed in Australia by Rockian Trading PO Box 44, Briar Hill, Vic, 3088, Australia Telephone +61 (0)3 9432 4149 ~ Facsimile +61 (0)3 9444 6879