Mozart

[facehugger]

i called it. this thread is mine. mine, i tell you!

anyway, mozart is awesome, no?

[Mozart]

Dude you forgot the clever name after Mozart like Haydn's Harem or Beethoven's Brothel.


Mozart is great.

[Que]

i called it. this thread is mine. mine, i tell you!

anyway, mozart is awesome, no?

Yes, Mozart is awesome...

Q

[Gurn Blanston]

Yes, Mozart is awesome...

Q

I don't know, "awesome" is a mighty powerful word.  He's OK though...

[George]

Yes, Mozart is awesome...

Q

We would have made excellent Mozart groupies. 

[Mozart]

In terms of counterpoint how does Mozart's requiem match up against earlier composers?

[Mozart]

The 3rd mov of pc 24 k 491 is so catchy!

[scottscheule]

I've been listening to the wind concerti in the Philips collection.  The clarinet concerto is the strongest composition--though at the same time it's more reflective, cooler than the others.  I love the rondos on the horn concertos, especially the second.  And the third movement from the oboe (and flute no.2, perforce) is delightful.

I started listening to them because a friend of mine performed the bassoon concerto a few weeks ago.

[hornteacher]

The clarinet concerto is the strongest composition--though at the same time it's more reflective, cooler than the others.

Very true.  This is due to the fact it was one of Mozart's final compositions, completed just months before his death.  Martin Frost has an outstandingly good recording of this work on CD.

I love the rondos on the horn concertos, especially the second.

Also agree.  I played the entire 2nd concerto on my University Recital about what seems like a million years ago.  However, if you would rather hear it performed WELL, I suggest Barry Tuckwell's CD on EMI.

[springrite]

For a couple of years now I only listen to Mozart's lesser known or lesser played compositions, such as the early (or otherwise lesser known) operas. I am a bit tired of the familair or catchy ones, the only exception being my favorite Mozart non-operatic composition -- the Clarinet Quintet.

[Daverz]

Listening to the "Szell Conducts and Plays Mozart" set.  This is some good shit.

[George]

Listening to the "Szell Conducts and Plays Mozart" set.  This is some good shit.

Well put.

[71 dB]

For a couple of years now I only listen to Mozart's lesser known or lesser played compositions, such as the early (or otherwise lesser known) operas. I am a bit tired of the familair or catchy ones, the only exception being my favorite Mozart non-operatic composition -- the Clarinet Quintet.

Yeah, Mozart's lesser known works should not be ignored. For example, I found Litaniae K. 109, 125, 195 and 243 very interesting works when I listened them last years (Brilliant Classics Mozart Box). I like many of Mozart's early operas, the ones with baroque feel.

The most famous works have a tendency for catchiness (reason for the fame) that can be tiresome as you said.

[Haffner]

In terms of counterpoint how does Mozart's requiem match up against earlier composers?

There are people whom will dislike me for this: I find Mozart's use of imitation (as Jochanan pointed put, it's hard to call them "fugues" for the most part) far more interesting and natural than alot of J.S. Bach. This is coming from a man for whom the Brandenburg Concertos were often his whole life in the '80's. Once I "discovered" Haydn, Beethoven, Mahler and Mozart's imaginative, blood-infused use of counterpoint (Haydn examples abound in opps. 20-77), some of Bach's WTC fugues sounded kind of mathematical and lifeless...learned, as many (besides Haydn and Mozart) would have stated in the mid to late 18th century.

I am certainly aware of the enormity of J.S. Bach's achievements (been listening to him for well over 25 years, Haydn and Mozart only 1 and a half). And my appreciation for the abovementioned B. Concertos, the Violin Concerto in D minor, and the Tocattas, etc. is truly heartfelt, profound. But I guess I've never been much of a fan of too much "mathematics" in music.

[Tancata]

There are people whom will dislike me for this: I find Mozart's use of imitation (as Jochanan pointed put, it's hard to call them "fugues" for the most part) far more interesting and natural than alot of J.S. Bach.

I am certainly aware of the enormity of J.S. Bach's achievements (been listening to him for well over 25 years, Haydn and Mozart only 1 and a half). And my appreciation for the abovementioned B. Concertos, the Violin Concerto in D minor, and the Tocattas, etc. is truly heartfelt, profound. But I guess I've never been much of a fan of too much "mathematics" in music.

What about Bach's vocal music? IMO, the rigour only adds to the music there...

[Haffner]

What about Bach's vocal music? IMO, the rigour only adds to the music there...

You found me out! I realize how many fantastic Bach works I left out; trust me, Johann Sebastian is very highly regarded by me. I'm overall quite a "fan" of his work. It's just that the other composers mentioned above (especially Mozart) just tend to seem less mathematical on the average (hey! A bit incongruous, that sentence, "mathematical, average").

Okay,I 'm very strange...

[71 dB]

I find the music of Bach musically exact rather than mathematical.

Mathematical music would sound like polyphonic morse code...

[Dancing Divertimentian]

You found me out! I realize how many fantastic Bach works I left out; trust me, Johann Sebastian is very highly regarded by me. I'm overall quite a "fan" of his work. It's just that the other composers mentioned above (especially Mozart) just tend to seem less mathematical on the average (hey! A bit incongruous, that sentence, "mathematical, average").

Allow me to pick up on this, being a discussion board and all...

As far as the 'mathematical' thing, I can see where it's easy to think this. Bach is, after all, a master of proportion.

But to me getting under the skin of the music, so to speak, is where I find the greatest musical rewards. The felicities deeply buried under all that surface structure (mathematics) is where the gold lies in Bach.

And the imagination on display underneath the mathematical template to me couldn't be more pliable. Not to mention colorful. IOW, it'll put the boogie-woogie in your step! Contradictory this may sound but that's the nature of a genius. 

And yes, I'd agree it's the vocal music (cantatas, Passions, etc...) where this is most in evidence (and his greatest music).

[Tancata]

Great post, donwyn!

But as to the question that launched this little digression: I would say that Mozart could write pretty much as well as anyone in the old strict styles...well, except for one...

[Bonehelm]

Great post, donwyn!

But as to the question that launched this little digression: I would say that Mozart could write pretty much as well as anyone in the old strict styles...well, except for one...

I knew it. LvB.