Mozart

Two reasons for this:

Next year will be another Mozart-fest (250th birthday) so getting in early

I think he's a composer I forget to listen to simply because he is so familiar

The works I know reasonably well are some of the operas (Figaro,Cosi and Don G.) and the Requiem and that's it!

Anyway, this morning I was listening to, and thoroughly enjoying, a piano concerto (#21, Annie Fischer) and wondering what else (because there is a lot) I really should get to hear. I have a slight feeling of watching Casablanca; you catch yourself thinking 'that's such a cliche' then remembering it only became so afterwards.

So, which are the 'great' Mozart works?

 

The "name" symphonies (and No.40)
The masses
The Requiem
Horn Concerto No.4
The string serenades (esp. "Eine kleine Nachtmusik")
Exultate Jubilate

 

Clarinet Concerto K622

Quite possibly the most perfect wind concerto ever written.

But then again I am a lil'bit biased

But for Gawd's sake don't get any recording by Janet Hilton or Thea King.

Oh (edit) before I forget...

The wind serenades No10 for 13 wind instruments plus No11 (E flat) and No12 (C minor). The 2nd movement of the C minor is just sublime - you can tell the Clarinet had become Mozart's favourite instrument

 

Clarinet concerto
Clarinet Quintet - absolutely sublime.
Many of the Piano Sonatas esp K310 and 333
the late String Quintets

 

each to his own

Gromit: for some reason I thought you were a flute man. ( and Buffet do make both don't they?)
If Janet Hilton is who I think she is (BBC Young Musician about 15-20 years ago?) she may well be one of the reasons I've never got on with the Clarinet Concerto; the other possibilty is playing the clarinet at school for a few years prior to the tenor sax which is what I wanted to be playing all along.
I just don't generally go for the clarinet as a solo instument. Somehow too polite; a little insipid (grossly over-stating it but that kind of idea) or it may just be the range. I would rather listen to a baritone than a tenor voice, a cello than a violin, a tenor to an alto sax. But at the same time the clarinet in jazz: Sidney Bechet, New Orleans type things, Benny Goodman (do I mean Benny Goodman? Rhapsody in Blue - him), John Surman - all fine.
So maybe I haven't heard a classical clarinetist with the amount of colour that I would like.
Suggestions for a big clarinet sound?

 

Out of interest, do you include Brahms's Clarinet Quintet in that? I've likewise never been desperately fond of over-prominent wind instruments in general, but the Brahms Quintet is an absolute masterpiece. Mozart's is of course quite nice too.

 

Um, don't know it - will add to the list...

 

His operas as it is always meant to be enjoyed. Good excuse to get a DVD player.

 

I never know how to phrase it when mentioning a piece of music like that on the forum. If you phrase your question with the implication that "obviously everybody knows this piece of music" you end up looking like an arrogant poseur trying to show off his amazing knowledge; if you phrase your question with the implication that "nobody's ever heard this piece of music", you end up looking like an arrogant poseur trying to show off his amazing knowledge; and if you simply ask the other person if he knows the piece of music you risk irritating somebody who may have written the definitive reference work on the piece in question, or at least collected every available recording.

 

Seconded - the Gran Partita (aka Serenade no.10, K361) is a wonderful work (and I'm not particularly a Mozart enthusiast).

You might like to try watching the film "Amadeus", which I certainly enjoyed. It is when Salieri hears the sublime slow movement of K361 that he realises, with despair, that the loutish Mozart has something that he simply lacks. The portrayal of Mozart in the film may or may not be accurate - how would we know? - but the effect of his music on his senior rival certainly rings true.

 

IMHO:

Piano concerti 9 - 25 (at least)
Symphonies 29, 33, 38, 40, 41
The "Da Ponte" operas: Cosi, Figaro, Don Giovanni (you guessed it, didn't you? )
"Haydn" Quartets
Mass in c minor


Regards,

L.

 

Yes, good film (saw the play at the National as well ) The film having the advantage of music!

Splashed-out 10p on a Leister/BPO/Kubelik recording of the Clarinet Concerto on Saturday and musically it sounds fine but still not a clarinet sound that does much for me. Is Leister on the 'approved' list?

 

Perhaps you should listen to a recording of Mozarts clarinet concerto which uses a period instrument i.e. the original instrument the concerto was written for, an instrument with a lower compass than the commonly used modern clarinet.

Regards,

 

Now there's a good idea, thanks.

 

I quite like the piano concerti, too.

 

Perhaps I read this thread too quickly but I did not see mention of the Magic Flute, a personal favourite. I agree with the piano concertos, I always find them interesting even if they lack the scale and grandeur or seeming sophistication that later composers were able to develop on.

I do like the Clarinet Concerto K622 although, and this happens a bit I find with Mozart, I can enjoy it more driving along than sitting at a live performance. I think I just like more drama and depth at concerts. One version I have is in an EMI box set of Wind Concertos with Karajan & the Berlin Phil. It covers Bassoon (K191), Flute (K313), Clarinet (K622), Oboe (K314) and others.

I have a record of Mozart overtures which are fun too. The Requiem is just superb to my ears and a tragedy that Mozart did not live long enough (either to finish it or) to write other works of a more substantial style.

Since he wrote, what 400 catalogued pieces +, I think you simply keep exploring.

Paul

 

breakthrough...

on the clarinet concerto front:

Jack Brymer/Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Sir Thomas Beecham

Overall pacing is somewhat different to anything I have heard but the clarinet sound is rather wonderful! (to me anyway)

Also enjoying:
Coronation Mass/Litaniae Lauretanae/Oxford Schola Cantorum/AOSMF/Marriner

and several of Brendel's piano concerto recordings; not got my head round the piano quintet though...

 

Many years ago a friend lend me this recording on an HMV LP with the basoon concerto with Gwydion Brooke on the other side. Very enjoyable interpretation.

 

note to self...

...remember to listen to both sides...

 

Certainly. I intended to say, that both sides are very enjoyable.