This is piano music for listening to, and it’s highly pleasurable. The sleeve notes say that while Mozart was “typically grudging” about Clementi, Beethoven had a high regard for his compositions, and Clementi was pivotal to the piano’s development as a virtuoso instrument.

Mozart possibly didn’t like him because Clementi was a show-off and brilliant, if this CD is anything to go by.

The music is clear but played rapidly; playing to impress an audience, while entertaining them at the same time. There’s nothing stuffy about it. This is apparently Sun-A Park’s first CD and it’s bound to get her more work, as she copes deftly with the runs and complicated, fast playing.

There’s almost a local connection too: in 1785 Clementi was in England, winning a reputation for himself there as a performer and teacher, but also involving himself in piano manufacture and music publishing in London. He retired from business in 1830, settling in Lichfield, later moving to Evesham. He died in 1832, and is buried in Westminster Abbey.

This is out on Naxos, 8.573940.

 

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