Mozart's genius is best defined by his....?

[Don]

A bit hard to do, as that work was left incomplete.

Point taken, but it's still of major length.

[Haffner]

For me, things start to perk up a bit with glorious late-Wagner & Brahms things...

Sigh. Sometimes you do put things so well, James  .

[Dancing Divertimentian]

In a generalised description I think Mozart's music was far more surface orientated ... in harmonic terms it was conceived in the vertical ... to be experienced vertically, but with a strong emphasis on top line melody to replace interest potentially lost through it's much simplified horizontal aspects. It aspired to a lighter and more vivacious effect than Bach's - at which of course it succeeds ... and it is much enjoyed by people who like that sort of thing. Mozart was in awe of Bach, and loved some of what he heard - his quotes about Bach indicate this. However, Bach would probably have disliked Mozart's music ... because despite it's evident melodious euphony, he may well have found it repetitive and a bit puffed up.

Surface beauty & glitter & charm were his aspiration. It is not surprising it is easily adapted to corporate use, in adverts etc used to suggest to the suggestible / social climber / business person a perception or veneer of what they should think is civilised, rarified, up-market ... in order to sell products. It might be indirect PR, but that is PR for a dead (overrated) composer ... in a very real and all too effective way I'm afraid.

Now hold on juuuuuuusssssst one second...

Yeah it's fun to imagine sometimes, but if it's imagination with lewd and insidious intentions - that is, it seeks to thump someone - there better be something somewhere that has a solid grounding in truth. Something...

Sorry to be boogyman but the above simply goes too far. Yes, it might've been fun to imagine such a scenario as Bach - who never heard Mozart - actually scolding "Wolfie" for his "surfaceness"...but it's worth mentioning as my very own counter-fantasy Bach actually LOVING Mozart - for his depth and subtlety! - and consequently starting the very first Mozart Fan Club - which hopefully would've been carried on to this day. What history... Its members would no doubt have included such luminaries as Haydn, Beethoven, Chopin, and Wagner - to name just a few...all of whom are on record as greatly ADMIRING Mozart.

Anyway, as you can see one good fantasy deserves another. At least mine doesn't seek to needlessly thump anyone....  

[Florestan]

Surface beauty & glitter & charm were his aspiration.

I presume he wrote you a letter about his aesthetic ideal...

[val]

My choice went for the operas and piano concerti. But Mozart's chamber music is extraordinary, in special the 4 last string Quintets, the clarinet Quintet, the 6 Quartets dedicated to Haydn, the 2 piano Quartets and the sublime string Trio. Not forgetting the wind Serenades K 361, 375 and 388.

[marvinbrown]

For me, things start to perk up a bit with glorious late-Wagner & Brahms things...

  Perk up  a bit  James! Just a bit??  I'd say late-Wagner (most notably the 4 operas of the  Ring Cycle, Tristan und Isolde, Parsifal and Die Meistersinger) are among the highest points in all of classical music!  My God those operas form the spine of my classical music collection!

  marvin

[Varg]

Am i the only one who thinks that his Requiem is a mighty work of art?

When i listen to this, i have the most wonderful feeling i can possibly have when i'm listening to music; the feeling that the existence of a work seems completely obvious, like an eternal part of the world, like it had to be.

[Kullervo]

This may be a straw man, but Bach had an extra 30 years that Mozart didn't. Imagine how much you could get done in 30 years. I thought everyone was aware of how clichéd the "Mozart is shallow" argument is. 

[karlhenning]

This may be a straw man, but Bach had an extra 30 years that Mozart didn't. Imagine how much you could get done in 30 years.

And, imagine what our evaluation of Bach would be, if he had died in 1720, and all that was written after that date, did not exist.

[Haffner]

And, imagine what our evaluation of Bach would be, if he had died in 1720, and all that was written after that date, did not exist.

This is a very provocative idea.

[Mark G. Simon]

The unique thing about Mozart is that he was superior in every type of composition he composed: opera, symphony, concerto, chamber music, you name it. In each category he wrote a number of really phenomenal works which just blow everyone else's efforts out of the water.

The downside of Mozart is that he started composing so young, and died so young, that a large percentage of his output is juvenalia. This is the music that gets the bum rap. He mastered the polished surface very quickly, and didn't much go for depth of content until the last 10 years or so of his life. But he still wrote a phenomenal amount of music in those last 10 years.

[Keemun]

Even the Mass in C minor?

I've not heard the Mass in C minor.  Perhaps that will be the work that "clicks" for me? 

[BachQ]

I've not heard the Mass in C minor.  Perhaps that will be the work that "clicks" for me? 

Might I also recommend Mozart's 20th Piano Concerto in d minor ......... as well as his Requiem in d minor .........

[71 dB]

I've not heard the Mass in C minor.  Perhaps that will be the work that "clicks" for me? 

Well, it did "click" for me! 

[(poco) Sforzando]

I've not heard the Mass in C minor.  Perhaps that will be the work that "clicks" for me? 

The C minor mass (or more properly, as much of it as Mozart completed) is a work of tremendous seriousness and power. (Pssstt - don't tell James!!) I would turn to it any time over the Requiem, which was "completed" after a fashion by Mozart's pupil Süssmayr, but which was botched to the point that a number of alternative solutions have been attempted by modern scholars. (One example often cited is how Süssmayr continues the solo trombone far longer than is called for by the text of the Tuba Mirum.) As there's no way of knowing what Mozart would have done with a lot of the material had he lived to finish the work, I can never listen to it without a certain degree of frustration.

[Keemun]

That settles it, I'm off to listen to the Mass in C minor!  0:)

Might I also recommend Mozart's 20th Piano Concerto in d minor ......... as well as his Requiem in d minor .........

His Requiem and piano concerti haven't done it for me so far, but thanks for the recommendations. 

[ChamberNut]

That settles it, I'm off to listen to the Mass in C minor!  0:)

His Requiem and piano concerti haven't done it for me so far, but thanks for the recommendations. 

Keemun,

How about some of the later symphonies?  Late string quartets?  String Quintets?  Clarinet Concerto and Clarinet Quintet? 

Have you listened to any of these?

[Haffner]

Keemun,

How about some of the later symphonies?  Late string quartets?  String Quintets?  Clarinet Concerto and Clarinet Quintet? 

Have you listened to any of these?

If you'd like to hear some masterpieces played with more power than usual (some would say too much power) get this recording:

[Keemun]

My first impression of the Mass in C minor is that it is a fine work.  I will listen to it some more and see where it leads me.   This is the version I acquired:



I really like Herreweghe's Bach: Mass in B Minor and Brahms: German Requiem, and I read a good review of it, so I figured it was a good place to start. 

Keemun,

How about some of the later symphonies?  Late string quartets?  String Quintets?  Clarinet Concerto and Clarinet Quintet? 

Have you listened to any of these?

I've listened to a few of the late symphonies recorded by Klemperer/Philharmonia Orchestra and New Philharmonia Orchestra.  I do have his String Quintet No. 4 (Lindsays) but I don't recall if I made it all the way through it, and the Clarinet Concerto (Martin Frost) which was okay.  I've not heard any of the Late String Quartets or Clarinet Quintet. 

[Don]

My first impression of the Mass in C minor is that it is a fine work.  I will listen to it some more and see where it leads me.   This is the version I acquired:



I really like Herreweghe's Bach: Mass in B Minor and Brahms: German Requiem, and I read a good review of it, so I figured it was a good place to start. 
 

I would figure the same thing, but I would be wrong.  Herreweghe's Great Mass is much less compelling than his Bach.  It's a very light performance except for the last two movements.  Better to go with just about any other recording with Leppard, Davis and Gardiner leading the pack.