Mozart Fest

[Roehre]

Probably only Beethoven is the only composer of the magnitude of Mozart who has had no bearing on jazz?

Uri Caine's Diabelli Variations, or Beethoven's own variations from the sonata opus 111?

[Ian Thumwood]

Roehre

Didn't realise that Uri Caine had recorded "Diabelli Variations." I have his first Mahler CD "Primal light" and was intrigued by the Goldberg Variations disc as I like Bach's work too. The Mahler disc is very good. However, I think most jazz musicians have borrowed little from the kind of approach to harmony and rhythm that Beehoven employed. Uri Caine is probably an exception even if he does tend to use the material as the basis of his "re-composition" in contract to actually employing the harmony used the these composers. I think he has worked on Mozart's music too and having met him once, know that he is extremely well-informed about all kinds if music. He is a really interesting person to converse with and a top bloke too. Easily one of the nicest jazz musicians I have met. Needless to say, he is a great pianist as well.

For me, the problem with Mozart is that he was a visionary in some respects but a bit regressive in others. To 21st Century ears, you can hear harmonies in composers like D. Scarlatti which sound "modern" whereas the era of Mozart didn't move harmony on much from what was happening in the mid-18th century. From a jazz prespective, I think harmony is a major component of music insofar that it is an essential ingredient of what makes jazz improvisation interesting. The better jazz musicians have a more sophisticated harmonic palette than musicians of Mozart's era as you would expect from 150-200 years of development. Harmony in Classical music definately got "sexier" to my ears with the arrival of Chopin. It is the impact of colour in classical music that really appeals to me hence my preference for the French Impressionist or Messaien. Mozart just doesn't tick all the boxes for me - have to say that I find a lot of his music extremely irritating. I have as much enthusiasm for WAM's music as Rap or Folk Music.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I've always put Mozart very high up my list of favourites. But I do take the point that some of his music would never be played, had it been written by a lesser composer. Wall to wall playing of his music does not do him any favours. There are composers who wrote much less, for whom blanket coverage might be more beneficial.

[Alf-Prufrock]

Robbins Landon stated simply that nothing composed before the Sinfonia concertante KV364 is better than the best works of M's colleagues at that time.

And almost everything afterwards is better than anything written by contemporaries with the possible exception of Haydn.

[Norfolk Born]

On the first day of New Year, my DJ played for me.....On the second day ....
In common with some other contributors to this thread, I love the music of Mozart, but not to the exclusion of anybody else's for 12 days.

[sigolene euphemia]

I love this forum !

The visuals are such a pleasure and expressive as to who we are as individuals.

A Montgolfier [ see post #10 ] as I listen to Mozart on Sean Rafferty's Program this day.

Sigolene

[verismissimo]

Roehre, if we followed Robbins Landon's suggestion that good Mozart starts with K364, we'd have to forego, par exemple, K201, K218, K271, K296, K297, K304, K 309-11, K317, K319 and K338.

Need I say more? :)

[french frank]

Roehre, if we followed Robbins Landon's suggestion that good Mozart starts with K364, we'd have to forego, par exemple, K201, K218, K271, K296, K297, K304, K 309-11, K317, K319 and K338.

Need I say more? :)

So which is the earliest indispensable Mozart? Exsultate jubilate is K165, and I don't think I'd want to be without it.

[Bryn]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Lf249oYO7I ;)

[Flosshilde]

I suppose that I am probably one of the few listeners who detests Mozart's music.

I'm another - can't stand the stuff, apart from the operas. My heart sank when I heard that there was going to be 12 days of it in January when I would be deprived of any listenable music on R3. An afternoon or evening every now & again is OK - no-one should expect the schedules to reflect their own likes & dislikes, & one can listen to CDs - but 12 days? Surely he can't have written enough to fill them?

[Flosshilde]

I have as much enthusiasm for WAM's music as Rap or Folk Music.

& just what is Andrew Ridgely doing these days ;)?

[Roehre]

Roehre, if we followed Robbins Landon's suggestion that good Mozart starts with K364, we'd have to forego, par exemple, K201, K218, K271, K296, K297, K304, K 309-11, K317, K319 and K338.

Need I say more? :)

I just have to point at the 1990/'91 Decca 20CD Mozart Edition, compiled by Robbins Landon, which indeed starts with KV364 IIRC.
The Philips "The best of" excerpts from the CME ( 25CDs) includes most of the works you mention. It omits the sonatas 309 and 311 e.g., but that one includes e.g. KV299 as well. and that's more a popular than a top notch Mozart, isn't it?

But it 's RL's reasoning and choice, with which I for the best part concur, but certainly not completely.

[Idamante]

There's a piece about the Mozart marathon by Tom Service in the Grauniad but for some reason the comments are disabled.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/tomserviceblog/2010/dec/03/mozart-classicalmusicandopera

Personally, I find this kind of programmiing lazy and deeply unintelligent, a kind of musical equivalent of autism. As music lovers we should be trying to expand our range of experiences while deepening our knowledge of what we already know. In the case of Mozart that means getting to hear the music of his contemporaries like JC & CPE Bach so we can judge for ourselves who's better.

I should add that some of my all time favourite pieces are by Mozart although nowadays I tend to find Haydn's music more interesting and enjoyable.

[Dave2002]

This is a straightforward example how to cut costs.
At least I know that I don't have to check R3 for programs to listen to .:cool2:

Not sure what you mean. Are you suggesting that maybe this will reduce the audience numbers to a point where they can close R3 down without many complaints, or something else?

I like Mozart, and I quite liked some of the other total immersion efforts, but 12 days is rather long. Can't we have time off for good behaviour?

[BBMmk2]

I am not a great fan of Mozart. Only a very few of his works I like, and then only performed by certain artists, whi IMO, really can brimng his music to life. Thisnhas sure to be a cost cutting exercise by the BBC?