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MOZART_K.457, K.475, K.332 / CLEMENTI_OP.34 No.2 19
Have you performed the
Sonata in E Minor
much in public?
A.C.
: Yes, and always with immense pleasure.
But you took your time before recording it…
A.C.
: I waited a long time, it’s true. One shouldn’t be impatient in life, certain things
require a gestation period
.
Interview by Alain Cochard, June 22, 2012
(1)
Mozart and Clementi were involved in a piano duel in Vienna on December 24, 1781. In letters to his father
afterwards, Mozart had very harsh words for Clementi, calling him a“simple
Mechanicus
” and a“charlatan, like
all Italians”. Clementi only heard about this many years after Mozart’s death, and even though he was hurt
by these comments, they never put into question his profound admiration for the composer of
Don Giovanni
.
“I’m not
impatient
to play something, I need
the time to find myself.”