The Second Movement: Adagio from W.A. Mozart’s Sonata for Piano duet in Bb K.358 is an intermediate level piano duet. The Sonata, composed in the period 1773-74 in Salzburg was most probably intended to played by Mozart and his older sister, Nannerl. The realisation score plays back at a tempo of 58 quarter note (crotchet) beats to the minute. The first repeat is usually played in a performance whilst the second indicated in the sheet music score is usually omitted. Pianists and keyboard players do need to approach the work with a lightness of touch in their hands. When playing the movement as part of an ensemble one of the performing challenges is to maintain clarity in the texture and to communicate the melodic ideas and how these are shared between the players. Whilst not indicated in the score minimal use of the sustaining pedal is suggested. The octave playing in the Secondo part needs careful practice and occasional use of the fourth finger is also suggested for this particular passage. The trills particularly in the Primo part when they are played by both hands also require attention. No repeats are played in the realisation. The challenge when playing Mozart is actually to make it sound like Mozart with a lightness of touch and beauty of sound. The accompaniment downloads available enable players to enjoy an ensemble music experience playing either the primo or secondo parts. The Primo part sounds on the one channel of the stereo signal and the secondo part sounds on the other. Accompaniment 1 plays at 58 quarter note beats (crotchet) to the minute, Accompaniment 2 at 56 quarter note beats (crotchet) to the minute and Accompaniment 3 at 54 quarter note beats (crotchet) to the minute There is a two bar count in featuring two different sounds of a wood block. When performing printing two pages of music onto one side of A4 offers a very practical solution for players.
