Cast your vote

[aeolium]

I listened to some of the programmes (or parts of programmes) in the Mozartfest because of wishing to hear particular works - for instance the piano trio lunchtime concert. I didn't think there were any 'good' programmes in the schedule in that there was no programme that appeared to give any additional insight into Mozart's music or the development of his style - there was just a stream of music. And I agree with Suffolkcoastal about the sloppiness of the programming - multiple performances of popular works, extracts of a work played in some cases hours before the complete performance of the same work, three operas in a single day. Too many works were juvenilia, just not significant enough to warrant playing ahead of work by his contemporaries.

I was left wondering what was the point of it all. If it was to hear works by Mozart that were not often broadcast, then nothing easier than to schedule them in amongst the many DJ-type programmes that now dominate R3 - which in any case have a large number of Mozart works already. Why does Mozart, one of the most frequently broadcast of composers, need this extra attention?

I also agree with Suffolkcoastal that I am against all composer-fests. Those for Bach and Beethoven were better programmed than this one, but it is imo an awful way to treat the music of a great composer - commodification of the worst sort. And I hold to what I said in an earlier post on this subject that I can think of no other R3 Controller (with the possible exception of Nicholas Kenyon) who would have even considered putting on something like this.

[french frank]

I didn't think there were any 'good' programmes in the schedule in that there was no programme that appeared to give any additional insight into Mozart's music or the development of his style - there was just a stream of music.

I wouldn't disagree, in a general way, though taking a rather wider view, I was pleased to hear Peter Hall's Shaffer/Amadeus, a play that I didn't enjoy much, but at least my curiosity has been finally satisfied . Studiously ignoring the title, I turned to Desperately Seeking Mozart for the antidote. And, I fully admit that, if you're going to choose one single work to listen to, Die Schuldigkeit is a thoroughly bizarre choice. Again, curiosity rather than musical nourishment. But meagre pickings for me, given the number of hours on offer.

Scheduling was largely modelled on the usual template, with regular presenters doing something not completely different from their usual programmes - though other than by incurring vast expense it was probably what had to be done. But another reason for not trying to bite off so much in terms of airtime. Much of it was bound to end up sounding run-of-the-mill.

[aeolium]

I wouldn't disagree, in a general way, though taking a rather wider view, I was pleased to hear Peter Hall's Shaffer/Amadeus, a play that I didn't enjoy much, but at least my curiosity has been finally satisfied

Though Shaffer's Amadeus certainly didn't help to illuminate Mozart but rather obscured him in presenting a false portrait of his character, the circumstances in which his last work came to be written and the manner of his death (as by all accounts the programme Desperately Seeking Mozart showed, though I didn't hear it). One indication was that perhaps his best friend Haydn - who surely would not have tolerated the Mozart character portrayed in Amadeus - makes no appearance at all in the play. Again, it's an example of going for the shallow portrayal, the easy option, the myth rather than the more complex reality.

[rallentando]

Shaffer, it's true, has a lot to answer for - shallow, sensationalised, easy and inaccurate might be the readiest things you can say about the play - but he was leaning heavily (easily again comes into it) on Pushkin's take on the Mozart-Salieri relationship. However what was perhaps more disillusioning was to hear John Eliot Gardener retailing some of the same myths about Mozart - and not of course being challenged or asked to refine or vindicate any of his comments by his presenter. So... the myths take on the status of Received Truths.

[french frank]

So... the myths take on the status of Received Truths.

Peter Hall also, in his introduction to the play. Though perhaps in his case there's more excuse, or rather, less reason to expect scholarly rigour.

Hello, rally - nice to see you!

[rallentando]

[QUOTE=french frank;24177]Peter Hall also, in his introduction to the play. Though perhaps in his case there's more excuse, or rather, less reason to expect scholarly rigour.

Quite.

Thought I'd always been a member (tho v busy of late)... missed the Moz-poll, but I'd have found in favour (mostly) since there is always something (worth listening for/to) in him, wherever...

[mikerotheatrenestr0y]

Trails, trailers, idents: a waste of time, in the vast majority of cases, and especially annoying because of their breathless pseudo-dramatic nature and their general irrelevance to the programmes before/after/during which they are played.

Interactivity: often embarrassing, all the more so when the presenters do not respond to well-meaning corrections/amplifications [though Suzy Klein corrected her pronunciation of Mazeppa this morning in response to a Polish listener's e-mail - well done! - perhaps we could have a bouquet section, to match the brickbats?]

Listeners' requests: Brian kay had his programme for ages on Sunday afternoons [perhaps this is what Sundays are for? Being with your family metaphorically? Anyone else remember Two-Way Family Favourites and its purpose?] Nobody knocks Jazz Record Requests - is that because no one else listens at 5 on a Saturday? Or because the requests are thoughtful, and emerge from considerable jazz-knowledge, as a way of sharing rare [rather than personally emotionally meaningful music] with friends and family?

Phone-ins fill time with faces and forks [to quote Larkin], not music. I'd far rather hear someone talking who knows what they're talking about, which is the music, which is also of interest, and emotional significance, to me. Being exposed to strangers' emotions in public at a distance is like slowing down to look at an accident on the motorway.

I like Mozart. I still like Mozart. I heard some interesting stuff - but not enough, because of the repeated works and the snippets. On the other hand, though I quite enjoy Bach, I found the Bachfest positively oppressive, particularly the totally religious orientation of the R3 message-boards during it - I mean both manner and content. It was like an evangelical revivalist meeting. At least Wolfi was FUN! And there should have been LOTS more of the letters. Mozart's music is not "call and response" - it's conversation. Though there are several voices in a Bach fugue, they're all JSB's.

Oh, and, yes, there should have been better organised accounts of the development of performance practice, and whether you play the slow movement theme in Piano Concerto 27 totally unornamented all the time... So many opportunities missed, in the name of... what?

[Alf-Prufrock]

I could not listen intensively to the Mozartfest, but I tuned in quite often and found something to interest and delight me in almost all sessions. I thought the scheme was hampered by trying to fit in regular programmes like In Tune, which really could not be easily accommodated. I liked the idea of a theme for each day, though it was not carried out as thoroughly as I should have wanted.

One gateway was opened on the very first day when I heard Kristian Bezuidenhout's fortepiano : what a lovely sound - I had had no idea that a fortepiano could sound rather better than the old joanna I once possessed. I shall look out for his recordings in future.

[Peter Katin]

I like Mozart. I still like Mozart. I heard some interesting stuff - but not enough, because of the repeated works and the snippets.

The repeats, of course, meant that this survey could have been carried out in rather less than twelve days.

[3rd Viennese School]

Well, a bad idea but with some good programmes. So I just dipped into the shows that I was interested in. The 2 Discovering Musics (the 36 was a very interesting show!), and the Performance on 3 concerts of No.36, 40 and 41 and Requiem.

Anyway, a very important milestone. Celebrating 220 years of Mozart’s death!
3VS

[Norfolk Born]

Roll on the Britten centenary!

[kernelbogey]

Roll on the Britten centenary!

Time to leave the country!

[Frances_iom]

In many ways the Mozartfest was a good illustration of the current state of R3 - no obvious direction but some excellent material in an increasingly bland and predictable pudding. In some ways it is like watching a friend whom you have known for many years decline with alzheimers - the sparks of genius + real personality become fewer and fewer (tho sometimes they do appear to remind you of how things were once), the majority of actions + thoughts becomes bland, sometimes confused and at times totally irrational (eg the 'crass' phone-ins etc). Unfortuneately one knows how it will all end - as a R2.5 / CFm mix.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

It's apparent that time is a great healer. The percentage of the two "in favour" categories in the poll increases as the time distance increases. If we leave it there for another six weeks, the result may go the other way.

Can I suggest that it be closed after. say "12 days"?

[french frank]

It's apparent that time is a great healer [...] Can I suggest that it be closed after. say "12 days"?

It's due to be closed at 4pm tomorrow, one week after it opened - see OP.