Mozart’s Piano Sonata in D major, K. 311, was composed in Mannheim, Germany in November 1777, while he and his mother were on a lengthy trip that would take them to Paris the next spring. Aspects of the Mannheim style are evident in this sonata, particularly in its sharp dynamic contrasts. Mozart composed another piano sonata while in Mannheim, that in C major, K. 309, possibly for performances in Paris.
In these sonatas Mozart’s powers of expression are growing and assimilating not only character of works by Mannheim composers, but many of the ideas of Haydn, especially in respect to his use of sonata form in both first and second movements.
Here is pianist Daniel Barenboim to perform Mozart’s Sonata K. 311:
