Topic: Mozart

[Catison]

Most of you know my opinion of Mozart (i.e., a mostly shallow, easy to understand composer whose music is very boring).  Well, my friends, all has changed.  I just bought this:



its the complete Mozart.  Everything.  And now that I have some real context for his music, it all seems to make sense.  All those stupid little melodies seem joyous.  I am going to have a magnificent time getting to know his music!

What is a good "unknown" work to hear?

PS - I also got the Bach complete edition as well, but that's another thread.

[karlhenning]

What is a good "unknown" work to hear?

I vote for the Adagio & Rondo for glass harmonica, flute, oboe, viola and cello, K. 617

[Larry Rinkel]

I always get a kick out of these large boxes.

I like the colors. It looks like a gay pride banner.

"What is a good 'unknown' work to hear?" asks Brett.

The problem is, of course, that if I know the work, it's not unknown, and I have no idea who else knows it. So I don't know what works Brett does not know. But if the issue is, what Mozart works are worthwhile ways to upend the cliché that he writes shallow, boring music, I could offer:

- Quartet in D minor, k. 421
- Quintet in G minor, k. 516
- Mass in C minor, k. 427
- Piano Quartet in G minor, k. 478
- Rondo in A minor, k. 511
- Prague Symphony in D (#38)
- Symphony #39, E flat, k. 543
- Piano Concerto in G, #17, k. 463 ?
- Piano Concerto in A, #23, k. 488
- Piano Concerto in C minor, #24, k. 491
- Piano Fantasy and Sonata in C minor, k. 475/457
- Clarinet Quintet in A, k. ??
- Don Giovanni

Just for a start.

[Haffner]

What is a good "unknown" work to hear?

PS - I also got the Bach complete edition as well, but that's another thread.

k266...in fact all the string duos and trios. I prefer them over any of his string quartets.

[Que]

Most of you know my opinion of Mozart (i.e., a mostly shallow, easy to understand composer whose music is very boring).  Well, my friends, all has changed.  I just bought this:



its the complete Mozart.  Everything.  And now that I have some real context for his music, it all seems to make sense.  All those stupid little melodies seem joyous.  I am going to have a magnificent time getting to know his music!

What is a good "unknown" work to hear?

PS - I also got the Bach complete edition as well, but that's another thread.

Huhhh....it that the Brilliant thingie?
The "monster", as Bill affectionately calls it? 
There is quite some HIP on that, isn't there?

Q

[Catison]

Huhhh....it that the Brilliant thingie?
The "monster", as Bill affectionately calls it? 
There is quite some HIP on that, isn't there?

Q

Yes it is pretty much all HIP, but that is fine with me, as I prefer the thin (or transparent) sound of the period orchestras.

I like the colors. It looks like a gay pride banner.

If by "gay pride" you mean, happy, joyfully blessed music, then I'd have to agree with you.  I am actually enjoying this set .

"What is a good 'unknown' work to hear?" asks Brett.

The problem is, of course, that if I know the work, it's not unknown, and I have no idea who else knows it. So I don't know what works Brett does not know. But if the issue is, what Mozart works are worthwhile ways to upend the cliché that he writes shallow, boring music, I could offer:

- Quartet in D minor, k. 421
- Quintet in G minor, k. 516
- Mass in C minor, k. 427
- Piano Quartet in G minor, k. 478
- Rondo in A minor, k. 511
- Prague Symphony in D (#38)
- Symphony #39, E flat, k. 543
- Piano Concerto in G, #17, k. 463 ?
- Piano Concerto in A, #23, k. 488
- Piano Concerto in C minor, #24, k. 491
- Piano Fantasy and Sonata in C minor, k. 475/457
- Clarinet Quintet in A, k. ??
- Don Giovanni

Just for a start.

Ol' Alban,

Thank you for the suggestions.  I was intentionally trying to sound niave, because I am with regards to Mozart.  I have heard many of the works you mention, but without the context of the other's.  That is the main purpose of getting such a huge box.  My interests have always been much wider than deeper.  Given the choice of hearing more music or hearing a better interpretation of a piece I already know, I almost always go for the new music.  That is what, perhaps, led me to shoot straight toward the unknown contemporary music I was so amazed by several years ago when I started coming to music forums such as these.  (Surely, you remember?)  But now I realize I have overshot many of the classics in my march toward novelty, and I would like to fill in the gaps.  So I will be paying attention to this thread in order to learn as much as I can about Mozart, a composer I've overlooked for far too long.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

What is a good "unknown" work to hear?

Easily the most overlooked (unknown) piece by Mozart is his Adagio in B minor, K540, for solo piano (fortepiano I imagine, here).

It's so expressive it's frightening.

I've yet to hear the work on the fortepiano but its sparse, minimalistic textures should fit the instrument to a tee. In the right hands it comes across as Mozart's most forward thinking work. Chromatic and highly programmatic it hearkens to an age far far in the future.

[George]

Easily the most overlooked (unknown) piece by Mozart is his Adagio in B minor, K540, for solo piano (fortepiano I imagine, here).

It's so expressive it's frightening.

I've yet to hear the work on the fortepiano but its sparse, minimalistic textures should fit the instrument to a tee. In the right hands it comes across as Mozart's most forward thinking work. Chromatic and highly programmatic it hearkens to an age far far in the future.

Whom have you heard in this work, Don?

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Whom have you heard in this work, Don?

I've heard Schiff and Uchida but I prefer Uchida by far. Heavier on the mystery.

[George]

I've heard Schiff and Uchida but I prefer Uchida by far. Heavier on the mystery.

Thanks. 

[Gabriel]

Mozart's Adagio KV 540 is superb and you should take it seriously right now, Catison! Arrau's recording is very fine too.

Among piano works, a "hidden" eccentricity by Mozart is the delightful Minuet in D major, KV 355.

Among the concert arias, Popoli di Tessaglia, KV 316; Ch'io mi scordi di te?, KV 505; Alcandro, lo confesso, KV 512; Bella mia fiamma, addio!, KV 528; and Chi sa, chi sa qual sia, KV 582. In Un bacio di mano, KV 541 you can find the prototype of one of the subjects of the first movement of the Jupiter symphony.

Among the Lieder, I would say two are above the rest: Das Veilchen, KV 476, and - most of all - Abendempfindung an Laura, KV 523. In Sehnsucht nach dem Frühling, KV 596 you find a melody that is exceptionally close to the first subject of the last movement of the Piano Concerto KV 595.

[Guido]

I seem to remember reading somewhere about a reconstruction or rather completion of a piece that Mozart intended to write but never finished - a sinfonia concertante for violin, viola, cello and orchestra. Has it been recorded?

[Ron Hunter]

Sinfonia concertante in A major for violin, viola, cello and orchestra, left unfinished by Mozart in 1779, variously completed by a succession of people starting with Otto Bach in 1870 and more recently Philip Wilby in (or about) 1990. The Mozart fragment can be heard on Denon CD 33C37-7505, and the Wilby completion on Philips 422508-2.

[BachQ]

Sinfonia concertante in A major for violin, viola, cello and orchestra, left unfinished by Mozart in 1779, variously completed by a succession of people starting with Otto Bach in 1870 and more recently Philip Wilby in (or about) 1990. The Mozart fragment can be heard on Denon CD 33C37-7505, and the Wilby completion on Philips 422508-2.

When it comes to Philip Wilby, we demand exactitude .........

[Varg]

I need the help of Mozart experts.

I saw the movie Amadeus recently, and i was intrigued by a piece or two.

At the begining, when Salieri, walking in the crowd trying to guess who is Mozart, gives a look at a mozart score, he tell the priest, while the music is playing, that he heard the voice of God, or something like that. And later in the movie (i think it's when Mozart's wife brings him a score), he says pretty much the same thing. What are those two pieces?

[FideLeo]

I need the help of Mozart experts.

I saw the movie Amadeus recently, and i was intrigued by a piece or two.

At the begining, when Salieri, walking in the crowd trying to guess who is Mozart, gives a look at a mozart score, he tell the priest, while the music is playing, that he heard the voice of God, or something like that. And later in the movie (i think it's when Mozart's wife brings him a score), he says pretty much the same thing. What are those two pieces?

I only remember the piece played in the first instance you mentioned above.  It's the Adagio from Gran Partita (a serenade-suite for 13 woodwind instruments) K. 361.

[FideLeo]

I seem to remember reading somewhere about a reconstruction or rather completion of a piece that Mozart intended to write but never finished - a sinfonia concertante for violin, viola, cello and orchestra. Has it been recorded?

An older recording on Channel Classics also, featuring Vera Beths, Jurgen Kussmaul, and Anner Bylsma as soloists.  Amsterdam Mozart Players (HIP but not period instruments in this case) is the orchestra.  On the same disc are a very nice Sinf. concertante K. 364 (Jurgen and Rainer Kussmaul soloists) and the concertone K. 190. 

[karlhenning]

Was grooving to the K.504 just yesterday.

[Bulldog]

Was grooving to the K.504 just yesterday.

That's okay as long as you realize that Mozart didn't write a note of it.

[karlhenning]

So, Süssmayr really wrote the whole of the Requiem, didn't he?

Or was it Walsegg?

Van Swieten?