Mozart

[Scarpia]

ideally the 498 trio is at least as engaging as the quintet, so I don't know what happened.

Well, our reactions to a particular piece can be quite personal.  I vaguely remember enjoying the piece more the previous time I listened,  but I am drawing a blank on what version it was (I have the impression it was a BIS recording).  But K498 has never been among my favorite works by Mozart.

[Antoine Marchand]

... but I am drawing a blank on what version it was (I have the impression it was a BIS recording).  But K498 has never been among my favorite works by Mozart.

Maybe this one:



... not particularly exciting, indeed.

[Scarpia]

Maybe this one:



... not particularly exciting, indeed.

I looked, turns out the BIS cd I was thinking of was something else.  I think it was a Harmonia Mundi release featuring Michel Portal

I vaguely recall liking the one I had heard previously more than the newer recording (for the trio, that is).

[jlaurson]

Fischer, Kreizberg, and Wolfgang Gottlieb Mozart (CD Pick of the Week)



http://www.weta.org/fmblog/?p=2914

[Coco]

The wind music is miraculous because of how much Mozart creates with limited means and in a limited form.  Actually, the Trios for three clarinets are unbelievable.   They were prepared by Mozart to be played at various Masonic functions, and are astonishing for their invention with only three voices.  Hard to find recordings of them, but this one is hard to top:

http://www.amazon.com/Sabine-Meyer-Mozart-Chamber-Clarinet/dp/B000LDM95K/ref=sr_1_28?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1304443471&sr=1-28

I've never heard of these at all! I would associate that sort of instrumentation with the 20th Century, but certainly not the 18th Century. Sounds fascinating.

[DavidW]

If you haven't heard the KV 498 trio, ah it is sublime.  Also check out the KV 452 quintet for piano and winds (don't know if it's in that set) it is wonderful.

[Rinaldo]

Is there a thread discussing Requiem recordings? I've failed to excavate one via search.

[Gurn Blanston]

Is there a thread discussing Requiem recordings? I've failed to excavate one via search.

I can't remember one in particular, Rinaldo. If you went to "Great Recordings" and started one, I am quite sure that you would soon have lots of company, this is a popular piece.

[Marc]

Is there a thread discussing Requiem recordings? I've failed to excavate one via search.

There was one on the old board, combined with a poll:

http://www.good-music-guide.com/forum/index.php/topic,12287.0.html

[Rinaldo]

There was one on the old board, combined with a poll:

http://www.good-music-guide.com/forum/index.php/topic,12287.0.html

Exactly what I was looking for, thank you!

If you went to "Great Recordings" and started one, I am quite sure that you would soon have lots of company, this is a popular piece.

No doubt! I guess I'm still a little shy here

[Marc]

Exactly what I was looking for, thank you!

I did everything 'right' with the search function yesterday, but I only managed to find the upcoming more recent link by adding my own username as entry (because I vaguely remembered a small contribution by yours truly on the new board).

Anyway, here it is. The thread has been bumped:

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,15234.0.html

[Karl Henning]

These got lost in the impassioned flurry over at the WAYLT thread, but perhaps will find more interest here in Mozart-land.

Some insightful remarks from two 20^th-c. composers; can you guess who?

It has become the custom to treat this most sublime of all tonal masters as a "rococo artist," to represent his work as the epitome of the ornamental and the playful.  Though it is correct to say that he as one who solved all "problems" before they were even posed, that in him passion is divested of everything earthly and seems to be viewed from a bird's-eye perspective, it is equally true that his work contains — even when transfigured, spiritualized, and liberated from reality — all phases of human experience from the monumental, dark grandeur of the Commendatore's scene in Don Giovanni to the daintiness of the Zerlina arias, the heavenly frivolities of Figaro, and the deliberate ironies of Così fan tutte.

With less amplitude, but with no less abundance, the entire gamut of human feeling is expressed in his nondramatic creations. To set up a uniform Mozart style for the reproduction of this infinitely fine a richly organized soul-picture is as foolish as it is superficial.

And:

There is still a residuum of music lovers who regard all that Mozart ever wrote as equally inspired.  An old-fashioned, cultured and nice sort of people who meet together and, perhaps, celebrate Mozart's birthday over a cup of tea.  These nice people will then play the slightest of his sonatas and symphonies for one or two performers, and are happy every time they are not surprised.  Of these Mozart worshippers there are not many, and they do neither good nor harm, for they can have no influence on the younger generation.  Then there are the musical people whom I would call conventionally orthodox.  They do not really care for Mozart and prefer to pass him by, though with a reverent raising of the hat and an apologetic bow.  There are many of these, especially among singers, players, conductors, and composers. Finally, among younger musicians, there are a few who realize that for anyone wishing to study music in all its aspects, there is no escaping Mozart.

The fact is, Mozart is extraordinarily severe, logical, and consistent in his scoring and modulation, yet, at the same time, freer and less constrained in form than any of the classical masters who have employed the difficult sonata form so favored by composers since Philipp Emanuel Bach — the form on which the symphony is based.

[Josquin des Prez]

The whining in the second passage would point to Schoenberg, but the writing style doesn't seem to reflect his. No idea who the first composer is, but that passage was very illuminating.

[EDIT] Google revealed the authors of both passages (as well as a very interesting book). Should have guessed the first one, considering the emphasis on the operas.

[Karl Henning]

Whining? You mean that pointing out that certain collections of people fail to appreciate a composer's genius, is whining? ; )

Not Schoenberg; in fact a composer of quite a different musical temperament.

[Karl Henning]

[EDIT] Google revealed the authors of both passages (as well as a very interesting book). Should have guessed the first one, considering the emphasis on the operas.

Well, no spoilers for those who want to guess without a-Googling.

[Karl Henning]

Mozart is all music;  there is nothing you can ask from music that he cannot supply.

No problem with profundity there. (Another 20^th-c. composer, BTW.)

[Gurn Blanston]

Well, no spoilers for those who want to guess without a-Googling.

I can't guess either of them (no surprise given my ignorance of the writings of 20th century composers), but I really enjoyed the statements and the insights they presented. The "whining" that Opie talks about is something I've encountered frequently in specialty groups, although it would be rapidly quashed here. What I find interesting is the revelations offered about the writers in their statements about Mozart. They are more reflective than intended, I suspect....

[Opus106]

Something tells me that quote No. 2 from an Englishman. Or am I far off?

[Karl Henning]

Oh, Lord ; )

[asin]B000005Z2M[/asin]

[Karl Henning]

Something tells me that quote No. 2 from an Englishman. Or am I far off?

Not an Englishman, though some of his forebears sailed there erewhile.

And # 1 is indeed celebrated for his operas, though not exclusively.