a general question about Mozarts music

[Beyond Within]

I am interested in getting everything he composed in his 'maturity'.

This being said, list me all the really important compositions. If you think they are all important, list me the best.

Also, a question: When did his symphonic style turn to what it was on the last 3 symphonies? That is, are any of his previous symphonies of their quality? Or were those last three of an elevated caliber?

[spaceray]

Mozart's last ten years were his best,
right Gurn?

[Peter]

Originally posted by Beyond Within:
I am interested in getting everything he composed in his 'maturity'.

This being said, list me all the really important compositions. If you think they are all important, list me the best.

Also, a question: When did his symphonic style turn to what it was on the last 3 symphonies? That is, are any of his previous symphonies of their quality? Or were those last three of an elevated caliber?

Well your question would be best put at http://www.mozartforum.com/

I agree Mozart's best works date from the last 10 years (his Vienna period). His last 4 symphonies are the greatest, no.38 the Prague is just as fine.
Earlier symphonies of importance are 25,29,31,35,36.


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'Man know thyself'

[Pastorali]

I love his saintly works, although I don't know all of them... But these two are great:

Great Mass in C, KV 427
Requiem, KV 341

both are wonderful!
I fear, Gurn has left us again this weekend – maybe he went out for golfing some Easter eggs?

[This message has been edited by Pastorali (edited April 10, 2004).]

[Steppenwolf]

Originally posted by Beyond Within:

This being said, list me all the really important compositions. If you think they are all important, list me the best.

Virtually everything written after 1780 is a masterpiece, and I don't think that anything that he ever wrote was bad. You could walk into a CD store blindfolded, randomly pick out a Mozart CD and not be disapointed. So, my general answer is to pick anything.

But if you would like some recomendations, these pieces really stand out, in my opinion, and are essentials in any good classical music collection. They are my personal favourites, and are usually judged as the best examples of what Mozart had to offer.

In no particular order ...

- Die Entführung aus dem Serail - a delightful, fun opera full of great, catchy 'tunes'. Perhaps a CD of highlights from the piece.

- The Marraige of Figaro (considered by many to be the best opera every written)

- The Magic Flute (my personal favourite - enchanting and sublime)

- Don Giovani

- Mass in C Minor (full of some wonderul, uplifting moments)

- Requiem Mass

- Last three symphonies, nos. 39, 40 and 41

- Clarinet Concerto (possibly my very favourite Mozart composition)

- 'Exultate Jubilate' (motet), written when little Wolfy was only 16, but extremely mature in its greatness.

- Any or all of the 4 Horn Concertos (I personally love number 2)

- Violin Concerto number 5

- Piano concertos numbers 18 to 26 (take your pick!)

Hope this helps! It is a good start, anyway.

[This message has been edited by Steppenwolf (edited April 10, 2004).]

[spaceray]

Originally posted by Pastorali:


I fear, Gurn has left us again this weekend – maybe he went out for golfing some eastern eggs? [/B]

Pastorali,
More likely Gurn is golfing for western eggs since I understand he lives in Texas.
There is a big Golf tournament on right now called "The Masters" in Augusta Georgia,I doubt that he will find a moment to squeeze us in this weekend even though we are talking about Mozart's last ten years(a particular specialty of his).We shall just have to wait.
Muriel

[Andrea]

Here's another Mozart site that might help you out:
http://www.carolinaclassical.com/articles/mozart.html

[Opus131]

No mention of his String Quartets, Piano Quartets, String Quintets and the big Divertimento ?!?

Shame on you all...

[Tony John Hearne]

Originally posted by Peter:

Well your question would be best put at http://www.mozartforum.com/

I agree Mozart's best works date from the last 10 years (his Vienna period). His last 4 symphonies are the greatest, no.38 the Prague is just as fine.
Earlier symphonies of importance are 25,29,31,35,36.

Peter many thanks for the excellent Mozrt web site



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Love from London

[Pastorali]

Originally posted by spaceray:

More likely Gurn is golfing for western eggs since I understand he lives in Texas.

Ah...caught me again!

[Tegan]

The Sinfonia concertante for violin and viola, the 21st piano concerto, and the piano and wind quintet are my favorite Mozart pieces.

[Gurn Blanston]

I agree that the thing to do if you want to start out with Mozart is to stick with his Vienna years works, since nearly all of the works that he wrote “for Art’s sake” are included there. The confusion that one runs into is that he just wrote so much stuff, how can one keep up with it all? Steppenwolf already recommended to you the operas and masses, and I’m going to stay right away from that since my only interest is the instrumental music anyway.
So, the easiest thing is to divide into genres, then pick the best. Of the pre-Vienna works, 2 that stand out for recommendation are the Divertimento #17 (K334) and the Sinfonia Concertante (K364). Then, the Vienna years:

Solo instruments:
Piano sonatas #14 in c minor K 457 & 17 in Bb K 576 also the 2 Fantasias (in d minor K 397 and c minor K 475)

Duos
Violin & Piano Sonatas K 378, 379 & 380
Duos for Violin & Viola K 423 & 424

Trios
Piano Trios #4 K 542 & #5 K 548
Trio for Piano, Clarinet & Viola (Keggelstat Trio)
String Trio (Divertimento) K 563

Quartets
The 6 “Haydn” Quartets K387, 421, 428, 458, 464, 465
The 2 Piano Quartets K 478 and 493

Quintets
Quintet in Eb for Piano & Winds K 452
Quintet for Horn & Strings K 386c
Quintet for Clarinet & Strings K 581
Quintets for Viola & Strings K 515 & 516

Orchestral
The Serenade for 12 Winds in Bb "Gran Partita"
Piano concertos #14 and higher, especially #’s 19, 20 21 & 24
The 4 Horn Concertos
The Clarinet Concerto
The last 6 symphonies

There are literally hundreds more works that can be added to this list, but if you are wanting to invest in some CD’s, these are a great start. I guarantee you there is not a “clunker” in the bunch.


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Regards,
Gurn
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That's my opinion, I may be wrong.
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[Pastorali]

Originally posted by Gurn Blanston:
I guarantee you there is not a “clunker” in the bunch.

Thanks Gurn (and Steppenwolf too)!
I will nail those lists onto one of my walls.

[Tony John Hearne]

Probably the A minor sonata for piano K331 (hope I have got this right) as it seems to me to encompass such a wide range of emotions as to be almost incomprehensible that a young man of 19 (again apologies if factually incorrect) could conceive it. For me this is the hallmark of genius. The only recording I have access to at present is a superb reading by Walter Gieseking Any other recommendations?

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Love from London

[Gurn Blanston]

Originally posted by Tony John Hearne:
Probably the A minor sonata for piano K331 (hope I have got this right) as it seems to me to encompass such a wide range of emotions as to be almost incomprehensible that a young man of 19 (again apologies if factually incorrect) could conceive it. For me this is the hallmark of genius. The only recording I have access to at present is a superb reading by Walter Gieseking Any other recommendations?

TJ,
I have Geiseking doing some B sonatas, and they are superb, IMHO. I have 3 or 4 different version of K 331, and my personal favorite is by Ivo Pogorelich, which is on a disk with another sonata, K 284 which is an early gem with a marvelous theme and variations, and also the Fantasia in d minor K 397, one of my favorite pieces. This is a DG CD which is only available in Europe right now (used to be here too, but not any more ) and if you can find it you won't be disappointed in it, I am very sure of that.



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Regards,
Gurn
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That's my opinion, I may be wrong.
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