We’ve briefly discussed the Dissonance Quartet, and Don Giovanni got a fleeting mention, but beyond that it seems the name “Mozart” has not been uttered on these forums.
Why is this? Is Mozart more famous than his music merits? Has he gone out of fashion? Surely not?!
While we muse on this, here’s a tiny Gigue, played by Mitsuko Uchida (and to my ears one of the most surprising works by Mozart):
I think K574 by Uchida is the first "song" I've not been able to find on Apple. I have however heard it by Richard Egarr on fortepiano and by the Swingle Singers. Very enjoyable.
I think it sounds quite like a Bach reimagining. In a similar vein a couple of days ago I enjoyed the Chiaroscuro Quartet playing the Adagio and Fugue K546 (in the same album as the Beethoven op 95 that you recommended).
[While writing the above I listened to the Adagio and Fugue having found it in the Songs section of my Library. Now I'm listening to the After Bach tracks (just those, not the Bach tracks from that album) which follow in the alphabetical sequence. Apple's creative playlists are proving quite stimulating! ]
Is Mozart more famous than his music merits? Has he gone out of fashion? Surely not?!
Speaking for myself only, and with a bit of tongue in cheek, I will counter-suggest:
"Too obvious? Too ubiquitous?"
Don't get me wrong-- Mozart was brilliant and I love many of his works to death. But I don't really feel like I have a lot to say on them that hasn't been said already, many times-- and I generally assume that if someone likes classical music at all, they already know Mozart really well anyway So, while I might be happy to talk about Mozart to friends in normal life about him, I'm not likely to do so on a forum devoted to other classical music enthusiasts.
Also, I feel like we kind of reached "peak Mozart" back in the 80s and 90s (probably due to "Amadeus" ). I remember listening to a classical station in the SF bay area back in the early 90s and I swear that a full third of their airtime was given over to Mozart, at least during the times I had it on. I also recall seeing on a classical new releases listening station at a Tower Records around the same time, that 3 of the 8 CDs in it were Mozart-- and two more were collections that at had least one Mozart piece on them. I feel like at some point there was a generational "Enough!" reaction to this saturation that we are still living through.
I couldn’t find Uchida’s recording of the Gigue on Apple Music either 🤷🏻♀️. Egarr’s recording sounds a bit wooden in comparison, but still fun! I agree it’s like a re-imaging of Bach, or perhaps a pre-imagining of moments of the Shostakovich op.34 preludes, or the op.87 preludes and fugues 🤔
I love Mozart’s Adagio and Fugue.
But I can’t quite imagine how that works in serendipitous sequence with Mehldau’s Bach re-imaginings. Something to try out tomorrow 😊
"Too obvious? Too ubiquitous?"
Yes, I think you’re right - we’ve had surfeit of Mozart in the past. Are there less obvious works by Mozart, though, that there’s value in sharing?
Are there less obvious works by Mozart, though, that there’s value in sharing?
Well, they're hardly obscurities, but I really love his clarinet concerto and clarinet quintet. Also his horn concertos.
There's also his Adagio and Rondo for flute, oboe, viola, cello and glass harmonica....
I remember, many years ago, first hearing that Adagio and Rondo while visiting the glass harmonica at the Corning Museum. What a haunting sound!
Are there less obvious works by Mozart, though, that there’s value in sharing?
However, until a few months ago I was scarcely aware of the Great (unfinished) Mass in C minor K427/K417a. Having heard it I think it is truly great.
It’s funny, when I posted the question of why we don’t mention Mozart, three works popped into my head, perhaps my three favourites: that little Gigue; the Great C Minor Mass (although it had escaped my notice that it was unfinished - there’s a happy little research project for me to explore 😊); and the second movement of the 23rd Piano Concerto.
Oh, and the first movement of the 24th Concerto, and the E minor violin sonata (K304) and that dramatic scene at the end of Don Giovanni of course, and…
Perhaps we have plenty to talk about 😂
I’m not familiar with the string quintets. Thanks for the suggestion, @Hugh!
Hello everyone 👋,
And thank you @Jen for the thought-provoking question, as always 😉
I think the reason we don't mention Mozart much (and Beethoven for that matter) is that they're greater than life, so prominent and so magnificent that one feels anytime one have got something to say about them it sounds superfluous, in a way?!! Can it be that we may be taking them for granted?!! I don't know, but I do know that when it comes to great music (great things in life generally) there's always something new to explore.
I, for one, didn't know about this little beautiful Gigue, so thank @Jen.
And @Hugh, thank you so much for bringing up those string quintets, these are a novel discovery to me.
But I don't really feel like I have a lot to say on them that hasn't been said already, many times-- and I generally assume that if someone likes classical music at all, they already know Mozart really well anyway So, while I might be happy to talk about Mozart to friends in normal life about him, I'm not likely to do so on a forum devoted to other classical music enthusiasts.
And @jchokey, please feel free to talk about whatever you like on these forums, we maybe "classical music enthusiasts", but surely there's always something new to learn evey single day?! We can't possibly be knowledgeable of every piece of classical music?!
While Mozart has written some of the most beautiful music ever, I will suggest that he is an artist of the heart, an artist of emotions, but not an artist of ideas. I adore his music through 626 works, but I do not engage in conversation with Being, with Existence when listening to his music, as I do with Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, for example. I may be at a time in life when I desire most to be engaged with existential conversation rather than engaged with conversations of the heart.
Please recognize that I make a crude dichotomy for illustrative purposes.
Thank you, @eldarboy, this perfectly captures the distinction for me between music that is simply enjoyed (Mozart) and music I fully engage with (Bach).
It raises the irresistible question of how and why music, perhaps the most abstract of all artforms, is able trigger such existential questions?
(As an aside: I’m amused that we’re having a conversation about not having a conversation about music with which we do not converse)
There is a saying - when angels play music to God, they play Bach.
When they play for themselves, they play Mozart.
... and God eavesdrops. 
As an aside: I’m amused that we’re having a conversation about not having a conversation about music with which we do not converse
@Jen, you are a genius! 
I’m liking that saying!
(and I just nearly fell off my chair with laughter at your last comment 😂)
The Great Mass in C-minor [plus the others]
Le Nozze di Figaro
Cosi fan Tutti
Don Giovanni
Die Zauberflote
C-minor Piano Sonata [plus the others]
Countless Piano Concerti
The "Haydn" & "Prussian" String Quartets
Just off the top of my head....also the string quintet he wrote just after the death of his mother...
It indeed is an excellent question by the OP.
