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A piano teacher that I know told me that Mozart's piano music should be played entirely without pedal (i.e. sustaining pedal). This applies to actual performances of the piece for an audience, not just for practicing the piece.

This seems like a radically extreme position to me. I understand why one would want to be careful to not use too much pedal in playing Mozart. In addition, it is often helpful to practice sections without using any pedal. However, it does not seem right to play complete works of Mozart in a polished performance for an audience without using any pedal. FWIW, historical accounts indicate that Mozart used pedaling when playing his works, although the pedaling mechanism and sound produced on the pianos of Mozart's time are different from those on modern pianos.

How common is it to avoid the use of all pedal when performing Mozart? I surmise that the vast majority of pianists would want to use at least some pedal. How would you feel about a teacher who strongly insisted that students play Mozart entirely without using any pedaling?

I'd disregard this idea, exactly because it's extremely radical.

Then again I sometimes don't mind using a tiny bit of pedal in Bach works (but when playing for my own pleasure)

I don't think even you believe in any of what you have asked.
But just for the sake of answering, yes you can use sustain pedal when performing Mozart.

Try playing the beautiful slow movement of K330 with, and then without pedal, and draw your own conclusions......

As I stated in my OP, I surmise that the vast majority of pianists would be in favor of using at least some pedal when playing Mozart. Your response is consistent with this. What is surprising to me is that a well respected teacher and pianist with good credentials would cling very strongly to the notion that sustain pedal should be avoided when playing Mozart. Is this just a special quirk of this one teacher, or is there a noticeable contingent of respected pianists that subscribes to this extreme view?

Maybe someone will correct me, but I believe that Glenn Gould is the only well-known pianist who refuses to use the sustain pedal in Mozart. And we all know what he thought of that composer....

Pages 24 - 33 of the excellent book Interpreting Mozart by Eva & Paul Badura-Skoda are devoted to an argument for the use of the pedal in specific instances - of which they give roughly 11-12 "obvious" (their chose of word) examples.

Get thee to a library if you can't afford the cover price.......

I would ask myself what I think my teacher would want me to gain by playing Mozart without the use of the pedal, before I questioned the advice. (Help! Grammar police.....Help!)

That was a strategy I used to use whenever I disagreed with a teacher.

I rarely use pedal while playing Mozart if any, the only reason being it sounds like mush. I would say using sustain in Mozart is acceptable, but it is still very important to be able to play legato without any use of the pedal.

All dead pianists refuse to use the sustain pedal in Mozart, and all other music.

(Most live pianists use way too much sustain pedal!)

i believe mozart played fortepianos with a damper pedal (deployed with the knee), so it should be okay.

Mozart requires special pedaling. You can rarely use whole pedal and even more rarely use it for whole phrases/passages (at least according to my experience).

My teacher has told me to use the pedal to accent single notes. In these cases I use the pedal just enough to give the notes a different tone.

In a nutshell: you use the pedal frequently for special effecet and sometimes (especially in slow movements) for legato.

Well it does make sense for a couple of reasons but it doesn't make sense for other reasons...

First of all Mozart's keyboard technique and phrasing, as well as the entire conception of playing keyboard music was BASED on the harpsichord, since apart from the clavichord which was a solitary practice instrument, the bulk of technique was based on the centuries before (harpsichord)

the harpsichord has no damper pedal and it has no dynamics.. this means that when you interpret a piece you give accents or bring-out voices by ALTERING the written rhythm

the harpsichord, had a very light damping mechanism, meaning that the notes faded away gradually, unlike a modern piano which aims to cut the sound off sharply.

pianos of mozart's time had dampers which were quite inefficient by today's standards, but because the tradition was based on harpsichord music and technique the damper (right) pedal was almost NEVER used...

Mozart's piano didn't even have pedals, it had knee levers which were seldom used.

Dussek I think was the one that really began to use the pedal in the modern way, changing on chords etc. but constant use of the pedal was frowned upon and unnecessary at the time because of the pianos they had which had small dampers and also because of the style of phrasing which created legato with rhythm. If the phrasing is rhythmically very strong and together you can get a legato effect.

the different tradition considered written music only an indication of the rhythm. You can read-up on this by downloading Saint-Saens article on interpreting ancient music on your iPhone for free.. he talks about how ancient music was much different than even the music of the late 1800's and radically different from today's conceptions


so you cannot fully reproduce Mozart's music as it was conceived with a modern piano and drawn-out, slurred phrasing. His phrasing, as was the tradition of the time, was more choppy and conversational as opposed to legato and full-voiced singing

by not using the pedal and playing lightly and not too hard, not relying on power and dynamic accents but on an articulated phrasing approach then you can get closer

but if you really want to understand any old composer you cannot rely JUST on your teacher IMO.. you need to look-up as many books written in the past which describe the musical approach of the time

Unless, of course, that teacher is a recognized "specialist" in the interpretation of 17/18 century music on modern instruments and has done all the reading and research that such a designation would require.

Regards,

I can see him using it here ....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkhwK5YEksI

Knee levers were an option in Mozart's time, one which Mozart wanted. Standard was a hand operated lever that raised the dampers, so you could not change the dampers while using both hands to play. However, those pianos did not have much sustain to begin with.

I use my ears to determine whether or not to use a sustain pedal ... and different pianos will respond differently. Some pianos are very much alive and others are on life support.

As with most discussions in music, you ears should be the final arbitrator.

Is that right? Interesting.

One should avoid the use of pedal with Mozart when possible. There will, of course, be occasions when a bit of pedal here and there are necessary, but it should be used sparingly. The pedal does not, by the way, create legato. Your teacher's position is not a radical one at all.

I am taught that the ear is the dictator of everything physical that the pianist does... and keeping Mozart pure will require pedaling that is quite slight and deliberate in only the most selective of moments...and can emphasize dissonance or promote some excitement here and there!

+1 Excellent