Alternatives to Mozart

[Vile Consort]

So what do you recommend listening to for the twelve days of wall-to-wall Mozart? Assuming that your answer isn't "Mozart, of course!" of course!

I rather fancy listening to the rest of Robert Simpson's symphonies and perhaps getting to know some of Alan Hovanhess's music.

Any other suggestions?

[JoeG]

That sounds like an excellent idea - my plan is to catch up with the Proms I have recorded on DVD, listen to Jordi Savall's work on Spotify and recordings of World Routes & World on 3. No need to listen to Mozart - know how each piece is going to go after the first few bars - so predictable!

[Chris Newman]

Yes, it is bally lazy broadcasting and probably saves the BBC millions of pounds: a lot of money. I adore Mozart and will dip in. I can understand a day or two but....... licence fee! I am beginning to think some other channels abroad with pictures are more tempting.....

[Bryn]

Tina!

[BBMmk2]

As it's after Chrismas, I hope I be getting cds etc, so be able to catch up wih those but yes, it woiuld be a good time also, to play recordings that you havn't heard for sometime to!!

[maestro267]

No need to listen to Mozart - know how each piece is going to go after the first few bars - so predictable!

I am SO glad I'm not the only one who thinks this way. It's the same with most, if not all, Classical-period music.

The same goes for Baroque music. You've heard one piece, you've heard 'em all. May be a controversial opinion, but it's mine and no one but me will change that, before you begin.

[Flosshilde]

Tina!

http://www.topnews.in/light/files/margaret%20thatcher.jpg

I'm not suggesting her for alternative listening

[Flosshilde]

I am SO glad I'm not the only one who thinks this way. It's the same with most, if not all, Classical-period music.

The same goes for Baroque music. You've heard one piece, you've heard 'em all. May be a controversial opinion, but it's mine and no one but me will change that, before you begin.

Nonsense - Haydn isn't at all like that, & neither are most baroque composers.

[Martin]

You've heard one piece, you've heard 'em all.

Perhaps you could try the opening of Les Elemens by J Fery Rebel, maestro. That doesn't sound like other baroque pieces at all!

Also warmly recommended to new year Mozart avoiders. (Or should that be 'evaders'?)

[johnb]

I think the idea that once you hear a few bars of Mozart the rest is predictable is just one of those silly generalisations.

One of the notable things about Mozart is that if you try to predict how a phrase will develop you will almost always be surprised by what actually happens even though, once heard, what Mozart wrote sounds inevitable. I realise this is a slightly different point to that being made by previous posters but it's still worth making.

It's fine not to enjoy Mozart but wide generalisations have little validity.

[Flosshilde]

I'll probably listen to some CDs I bought during Glasgow's classical record shop closing-down sale - some Haydn symphonies, & 'Castor et Pollux', plus some that I got for my birthday last April & haven't managed to listen to fully yet (especially the ROH Elektra), plus whatever I got for Christmas (if any - I haven't sent my list to Father Christmas yet).

[rodney_h_d]

.....One of the notable things about Mozart is that if you try to predict how a phrase will develop you will almost always be surprised by what actually happens.....

I agree with you - it's precisely what distinguishes the mature Mozart from most of his contemporaries.

[Flosshilde]

the mature Mozart

Is there such a thing? I feel that his music displays the traits of a young man - a tendency to show off & cram in as much as he could. I think that maturity in art is more to do with knowing what to leave out & how to use the material to greatest effect. Given that he was fairly young when he died I wonder how he would have developed had he lived as long as Haydn, for example.

[Flosshilde]

But this thread is supposed to be about alternatives to Mozart, not about Mozart!

[Roehre]

Moz-Art à la Haydn (by Schnittke)