Mozart: Piano Sonatas - Menahem Pressler

Mozart was a pianist all his life. Although he played the organ, violin and viola very well, it was as a pianist that he generally made his public appearances and performed his own works. As a child he learned to play the harpsichord and clavichord, and he retained a fondness for the latter instrument all his life, but he rarely performed on it in public. His earliest compositions are for a keyboard instrument (harpsichord or clavichord) and among the many compositions of his last few months are a piano sonata, a piano concerto, a piano trio and a set of variations for the piano. His interest in the piano didn't stop with writing music for it, and there are several letters to his family in which he mentions trying out the new pianos of various friends. In an oft-quoted letter to his father (October 17-18, 1777) he describes his favorite brand of piano and tells why he likes it: 

"This time I shall begin at once with Stein's pianofortes… In whatever way I touch the keys, the tone is always even… It never jars, it is never stronger or weaker or entirely absent; in a word, it is always even His instruments have this special advantage over others that they are made with escape action. Only one maker in a hundred bothers about this. But without an escapement it is impossible  to  avoid  jangling  and  vibration after the note is struck. When you touch the keys, the hammers fall back again the moment after they have struck the strings, whether you hold down the keys or release them."