The Works

The Works is the ultimate destination to help you discover the latest and best in the world of classical music. Handpicked by our editors, the playlist features compelling new albums featuring performances by world-class artists. Our opening track features pianist Angela Hewitt’s magical performance of the undulating slow movement of Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major, K. 545. Ostensibly, the sonata was composed for beginners to play—in the “Andante” heard here, Mozart floats a simple melody above a gently rocking accompaniment. “There is beauty in simplicity,” Hewitt tells Apple Music Classical. “You don’t need a million notes to make an effect, to seem passionate, to be expressive.” In fact, the sonata’s technical simplicity makes it something of a challenge for professional pianists, as Hewitt explains: “You have to put as much care and attention to detail in playing this music as you would Mozart’s most complicated works,” she says. “Nothing is actually easy if you want to play it well. I remember a great Russian pianist telling me that he could easily play the challenging Bach-Busoni Chaconne, but that he once tried to play a much simpler Bach French Suite in public, and had never felt so scared in his life.” The album from which this track is taken marks Hewitt’s completion of her journey to record Mozart’s complete piano sonatas. “When you play the complete works of Mozart, you get the most wonderful feeling for what his own playing must have been like,” she explains. “Without being pretentious, I feel how the music was created under his fingers; the joy he took in not only composing but showing off what he could do; but also his temperament—the comedy, the tragedy, the melancholy. A life full of characters, situations, games, dance, and especially song.” Don’t forget that we regularly update The Works, so if you find a piece of music or a performance you particularly love, be sure to add it to your library.