156. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 26, "Coronation" (1788)

Recording

Title: Piano Concertos No.21 "Elvira Madigan", No.26 "Coronation"
Performers: Robert Casadesus, Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Director: George Szell
Year: 1962
Length: 29 minutes

Review

Weirdly enough this was one of the most loved Mozart piano concertos in the 19th century and has now come to the point where it is really looked down on as one of the least good ones from his amazing sequence of final concertos.

I understand why it isn't loved as much now, it is a very easy concerto, almost a caricature of Mozart, it sounds extremely Mozartean. That said, however, it is a pretty beautiful one, particularly the amazingly romantic slow movement.

Still, it isn't one of the most original of Mozart's pieces, but his final piano concertos are all so good that it is hard to blame him for having one which seems a bit like going through the motions. They are great motions anyway.

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The traditional name associated with this work is not Mozart's own, nor was the work written for the occasion for which posterity has named it. Mozart remarks in a letter to his wife in April 1789 that he had just performed this concerto at court. But the nickname "Coronation" is derived from his playing of the work at the time of the coronation of Leopold II as Holy Roman Emperor in October 1790 in Frankfurt am Main. At the same concert, Mozart also played the Piano Concerto No. 19, K. 459. We know this because when Johann Andre of Offenbach published the first editions of both concertos in 1794, he identified them on their title pages as being performed on the occasion of Leopold's coronation. Alan Tyson in his introduction to Dover Publications' facsimile of the autograph score (which today is at the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York) comments that "Although K. 459 has at times been called a 'Coronation' concerto, this title has nearly always been applied to K. 537"

Gulda playing the second movement:

155. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Don Giovanni (1787)

Recording

Title: Don Giovanni
Performers: Eberhard Watcher, Joan Sutherland, Giuseppe Taddei
Director: Carlo Maria Giulini
Year: 1959
Length: 3 hours

Review

This is often and widely considered the best opera of all time, and honestly it might just be. It really depends however on what you consider to be most important in opera, but on balance this is still amazing. The music is the best of any Mozart opera I have listened to, extremely effective emotionally.

The libretto might, in my opinion be slightly inferior to that of Nozze di Figaro as it is not sustained as well throughout, the beginning of the second act is not that exciting and the end after the death of Giovanni feels superfluous. The thing is the Death of Giovanni just before the end is one of the most riveting moments in any opera, the Commendatore dragging him to hell is a moment of extreme power.

The main character is a psychopathic sex-addict, rapist and murderer, which is uncommon to say the least and there is a perverse pleasure to the whole thing, he does get his comeuppance at the end, but still... Amazing stuff indeed, Mozart is just something else.

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Of the many operas based on the legend of Don Juan, Don Giovanni is thought to be beyond comparison. Da Ponte's libretto was billed like many of its time as dramma giocoso: "giocoso" meaning comic, and "dramma" signifying an operatic text (an abbreviation of "dramma per musica"). Mozart entered the work into his catalogue as an "opera buffa". Although often classified as comic, it is a unique blend of comic (buffa) and drama (seria). Subtitled "dramma giocoso", the opera blends comedy, melodrama and supernatural elements.

The Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard wrote a long essay in his book Enten/Eller (Either/Or) in which he argues, quoting Charles Gounod, that Mozart's Don Giovanni is “a work without blemish, of uninterrupted perfection.” The finale, in which Don Giovanni refuses to repent, has been a captivating philosophical and artistic topic for many writers including George Bernard Shaw, who in Man and Superman parodied the opera (with explicit mention of the Mozart score for the finale scene between the Commendatore and Don Giovanni).

Thank God for the internet, and it is actually the Giulini recording so great!:

154. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (1787)

Recording

Title: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
Performers: Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
Director: Neville Marriner
Year: 1987
Length: 17 minutes

Review

Few pieces of music are as famous as the four movements in what is probably Mozart's most famous Serenade and piece in general. That is at the same time the great thing about it, the way it is instantly recognisable and you can sing along to all of it, but also its major problem.

This is so popular that it is hard to come to it with fresh ears, it has long ago reached the state of banal music, too much success for its own good, by far. But if you try you can get good things from it.

It is not only fun, but the capacity of Mozart to make such endurable music over 200 years ago that every 5 year old can sing today is quite astonishing. Mozart is a master of immediately attractive music when he wants to leave complexities aside and this is a perfect example of that. Populist music at its best.

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Mozart listed this work as having five movements in his own catalogue of his works. ("Allegro - Minuet and Trio. - Romance, Minuet and Trio and Finale.") The second movement in his listing, a minuet and trio, was long thought lost and no one knows if it was Mozart or someone else who removed it. Musicologist Alfred Einstein has suggested, however, that a minuet in Piano Sonata in B-flat, K.498a, is the missing movement. The sonata's minuet has been recorded in an arrangement for string quartet,although music scholars are not certain that Einstein is correct.

First Movement:

153. Joseph Haydn - Seven Last Words (1787)

Recording

Title: The Seven Words
Performer: Rosamunde Quartet
Year: 2000
Length: 1 hour 5 minutes

Review

This is an interesting recording of some peculiar sacred music. Firstly it is sacred music played by a string quartet, although originally it was for full orchestra, but there are no choirs or vocals at all.

Then it is a sequence of seven slow movements with a slow Intro and a chaotic conclusion. It is a testament to the brilliance of Haydn that he manages to keep your interest for what are essentially 8 adagios which last between 6 and 10 minutes each and a 2 minute explosion.

He manages to keep the listener interested because of the sheer variety of slowness that he produces and the heart-achingly beautiful quality of them. It is also an interest throwback to Baroque sacred music without ever losing classical sensibility. A very interesting piece indeed.

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The composer later explained to his amanuensis G.A. Griesinger:

"Some fifteen years ago I was requested by a canon of Cádiz to compose instrumental music on the seven last words of Our Savior on the Cross. It was customary at the Cathedral of Cádiz to produce an oratorio every year during Lent, the effect of the performance being not a little enhanced by the following circumstances. The walls, windows, and pillars of the church were hung with black cloth, and only one large lamp hanging from the center of the roof broke the solemn darkness. At midday, the doors were closed and the ceremony began. After a short service the bishop ascended the pulpit, pronounced the first of the seven words (or sentences) and delivered a discourse thereon. This ended, he left the pulpit and fell to his knees before the altar. The interval was filled by music. The bishop then in like manner pronounced the second word, then the third, and so on, the orchestra following on the conclusion of each discourse. My composition was subject to these conditions, and it was no easy task to compose seven adagios lasting ten minutes each, and to succeed one another without fatiguing the listeners; indeed, I found it quite impossible to confine myself to the appointed limits."


The Earthquake at the end:

152. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Symphony no.38 "Prague" (1786)

Recording

Title: Symphonies Nos. 35-41
Performers: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Director: Herbert Von Karajan
Year: 1977
Length: 26 minutes

Review

With Symphony no. 38 we start an uninterrupted sequence of some pretty great symphonies by Mozart, up until his last one, No.41. This one starts ominously, and it isn't hard to see that just a year later he would put out Don Giovanni, there are similarities in the beginning here. It soon goes on to a brilliant allegro and some very attractive music indeed.

The first movement here is really the stand-out movement of the whole thing, but the slow movement is beautiful and the last one is a fast, light and airy Presto which complements the whole thing very well.

The scope of the symphony feels much larger than that of the piano concertos, there is none of the delicate humanity of the piano, and so the music becomes much more epic and grandiose, at times joyous and other times menacing. Pretty great.

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Although Mozart’s popularity among the Viennese waxed and waned, he was consistently popular among the Bohemians and had a devoted following in Prague. A piece appearing in the Prager Neue Zeitung shortly after Mozart’s death expresses this sentiment: "Mozart seems to have written for the people of Bohemia, his music is understood nowhere better than in Prague, and even in the countryside it is widely loved." The Prague Symphony was written in gratitude for their high esteem. It had its premiere in Vienna, on December 6, 1786, and was performed in Prague a month later.

Bohm conducts the allegro of the first movement:

151. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Concerto no. 25 (1786)

Recording

Title: Piano Concertos 21 & 25
Performers: Stephen Kovacevich, London Symphony Orchestra
Director: Colin Davis
Year: 1972
Length: 31 minutes

Review

Yet another Piano concerto by Mr. Mozart, don't worry there's only two left on the list, and if they are all as good as this one I don't really mind. But there has been a bit of monotony on the list, they could just have gotten a good complete recording and made me review that, but no.

So this is a pretty interesting one, it sounds quite grand at the beginning but much like in number 24 there is an element of delicacy added by the piano itself, it is almost fighting the orchestra here, trying to convince it not to be so pompous.

Again, we have a wonderful Mozart concerto, this is no surprise and honestly you should just get them all. The new Barenboim collection is quite cheap if you are wondering, less than 20 pounds on Amazon UK for 10 CDs.

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

K.503 has long been neglected in favor of Mozart’s more “brilliant” concertos, such as K. 467. Though Mozart performed it on several occasions, it was not performed again in Vienna after Mozart’s death until 1934, and it only gained acceptance in the standard repertoire in the later part of the twentieth century. However, it is now regarded as one of Mozart’s greatest works.

The first 9 minutes of the first concerto:

150. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Quartet in E flat major (1786)

Recording

Title: Piano Quartet in G minor K478; Piano Quartet in E flat K493
Performers: Paul Lewis, Leopold String Trio
Year: 2002
Length: 34 minutes

Review

By its nature the piano quartet has a more intimate feel than the piano concerto, somewhere between the violin sonata and the concerto, and is is quite a pretty thing. This is not as spectacular as any of the Mozart Concertos, but Mozart had a lot more practice with the concertos, he only wrote two of these.

This is quite a long quartet, slightly longer than any of his Piano Concertos, again the comparisons are appropriate, this is very much a concerto for four instruments, the piano part is the dominant one and the trio does the same job as the orchestra.

The more intimate feel of the four instruments makes the whole thing feel more delicate than epic, and in that sense it works extremely well in the slow movement, a very beautiful moment.

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Mozart received a commission for three quartets in 1785 from the publisher Franz Anton Hoffmeister. Hoffmeister thought the G minor Quartet was too difficult and that the public would not buy it, so he released Mozart from the obligation of completing the set. Nine months later, Mozart composed this quartet anyway.

The Larghetto:

149. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Concerto no. 24 (1786)

Recording

Title: Piano Concertos C Major KV 467 & c Minor KV 491
Performer: Clifford Curzon, Symphonie-Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Director: Rafael Kubelik
Year: 1970
Length: 31 minutes

Review

Another great Piano concerto by the classical master of piano concertos (Beethoven is the romantic master). This is with good reason considered the more integrated of Mozart's concertos, the piano and the Orchestra work in perfect harmony.

The first movement gives the Orchestra a superhuman sense of foreboding and epicness while the piano complements it with the truly human and emotional part of a fantastic movement.

The following movements aren't as marked in their dichotomy with the piano but are equally great. Even if this isn't one of the most accessible of Mozart concertos, it is damn near perfect. Highly Recommended.

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Long considered to be one of Mozart's greatest works, Arthur Hutchings has described it to be the most "concerted" of all the concertos (i.e. the most integrated). Girdlestone has also effectively claimed it as the greatest. Ludwig van Beethoven took particular inspiration for his own music from this concerto.

The work has obvious musical antecedents in Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 78, also in C minor and from which the Concerto's opening statement is drawn. Jonathan Stock has analysed in detail Mozart's use of woodwind timbre in the instrumentation of the concerto's slow movement. Chris Goertzen has mapped the structure of the slow movement.

The concerto was first published in parts in 1800. The manuscript of the concerto resided in the 1960's at the Royal College of Music.

1st movement:

148. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - The Marriage Of Figaro (Le Nozze Di Figaro) (1786)

Recording

Title: Le Nozze Di Figaro
Performers: Alastair Miles, Nuccia Focile etc.
Director: Charles Mackerras
Year: 1994
Length: 3 hours 30 minutes (3 CDs)

Review

I can say with very little doubts that this is the best opera we have had on the list up until now, the only one that might rival it is the great Cesare by Handel and even so... this beats it hands down.

There are several reasons for this, the libretto is brilliant, with a level of plot complexity and a sense of fun unlike any before, the characters even if there are something like 11 singing parts are all well rounded, even if it is the longest opera we have had here it is never boring.

Then you have amazing music to complement it, some arias are very famous other aren't but are just equally as good, there is not a wasted moment in the whole thing. If I could point to one thing it is a certain excess of secco recitative, but that would be nit-picking. Fun, beautiful and pretty much near perfect.

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Lorenzo da Ponte wrote a preface to the first published version of the libretto, in which he boldly claimed that he and Mozart had created a new form of music drama:

In spite ... of every effort ... to be brief, the opera will not be one of the shortest to have appeared on our stage, for which we hope sufficient excuse will be found in the variety of threads from which the action of this play [i.e. Beaumarchais's] is woven, the vastness and grandeur of the same, the multiplicity of the musical numbers that had to be made in order not to leave the actors too long unemployed, to diminish the vexation and monotony of long recitatives, and to express with varied colours the various emotions that occur, but above all in our desire to offer as it were a new kind of spectacle to a public of so refined a taste and understanding.

Charles Rosen (in The Classical Style) proposes to take da Ponte's words quite seriously, noting the "richness of the ensemble writing", which carries forward the action in a far more dramatic way than recitatives would. Rosen also suggests that the musical language of the classical style was adapted by Mozart to convey the drama: many sections of the opera musically resemble sonata form; by movement through a sequence of keys, they build up and resolve musical tension, providing a natural musical reflection of the drama. As Rosen says:

The synthesis of accelerating complexity and symmetrical resolution which was at the heart of Mozart's style enabled him to find a musical equivalent for the great stage works which were his dramatic models. The Marriage of Figaro in Mozart's version is the dramatic equal, and in many respects the superior, of Beaumarchais's work.

Che Soave Zeffiretto pu to good use in Shawshank Redemption:

147. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Concerto no. 23 (1786)

Recording

Title: Piano Concertos Nos. 8, 23, 24
Performer: Wilhelm Kempff, Bamberger Symphoniker
Director: Ferdinand Letiner
Year: 1960
Length: 25 minutes

Review

Here is yet another Piano Concerto by Mozart, and each one of these keeps being a masterpiece in its own right. This one was possibly one of the most beautiful until now, with a perfect first movement, an emotional and truly delicate second and a jaunty third.

There is very little to point at here that isn't nearly perfect. Wilhelm Kempff is also one of the all time great pianists, so again it is very hard to point anything out to him when he fills the whole work with colour and feeling.

So this is probably one of my favourite Piano Concertos until now, and Mozart seems to be able to do no wrong, yes the genius category is apt, and we all knew that, but it is never too much to remind ourselves of the "why". And this is one of those pieces.

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The first movement is mostly sunny with the occasion melancholic touches typical of other Mozart pieces in A major.

The second movement is impassioned and somewhat operatic in tone. Formally this is a sonata form, the piano entering immediately with a theme that has unusually wide leaps; and also as with many such minor-mode sonata movements with Mozart, we hear an effective device where the major-mode secondary material in minor in the end. It is the only movement by Mozart in F sharp minor.

The third movement is a rondo, shaded by moves into other keys as is the opening movement (to C major from E minor and back during the secondary theme in this case, for instance) and with a central section whose opening in F sharp minor is interrupted by a clarinet tune in D major, an intrusion that reminds us, notes Girdlestone, that instrumental music at the time was informed by opera buffa and its sudden changes of point of view as well as of scene

The adagio with Giulini conducting and Horowitz on the Piano:

146. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Horn Concerto no. 4 (1786)

Recording

Title: Horn Concertos Nos. 1-4, Quintet K.452
Performers: Dennis Brain, Philarmonia Orchestra
Director: Herbert Von Karajan
Year: 1953
Length: 16 minutes

Review

This is quite a short concerto for Horn, but truly a delightful one. A note must be made about the recording, however, Dennis Brain is renowned with good reason as the best Horn interpreter of Mozart, the recording however, in mono from 1953 makes it all feel pretty muffled. Also it isn't done in period instruments.

Still you get a great player in an historical recording with the mythical Von Karajan. The piece is great revealing a humorous side to the composition, particularly in the third movement.

It isn't as amazing as the piano concertos, but then what is? But this recording is a very good value piece of historical music-making by some of the greatest names in classical music in the mid 20th century and if only for that reason, worth listening to.

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The manuscript was written with multicolored inks, perhaps in a jocular attempt to rattle the intended performer (Leitgeb).

Second and third movement, the kid is quite good:

145. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Concerto no. 22 (1785)

Recording

Title: The Piano Concertos
Performers: Malcolm Bilson, English Baroque Soloists
Director: John Eliot Gardiner
Year: 1984
Length: 34 minutes

Review

While concerts 20 and 21 were very much a part of the same burst of inspiration, 22 is quite a different affair. The orchestration is different and the overall feel of the concert is different as well. It is, however, by no means worse than the two previous ones.

The main difference is the inclusion of clarinets which at times come across in solo sections giving the whole thing a very bucolic feel, this is particularly true of the last two movements which are also the highlights of the concerto.

The second movement is one of the most delicate, pastoral and beautiful pieces by Mozart and the third is supremely catchy. Surprisingly you will hardly find any of the two in "best of Mozart" compilations... well you shouldn't get those anyway because they are for people with no intellectual commitment who only want to have something to put on the background which will make them look middle-brow at their Islington dinner parties. For people who truly like classical music, however, this is strongly recommended. Oh and this recording is one of the best complete sets of Mozart Piano Concertos you can buy.

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The slow second movement in C minor recalls similar slow C minor movements in other Mozart E-flat major concertos such as K.271 and K.364. Mozart's father, in a famous letter to Maria ("Nannerl"), expressed surprise that a call was made for the slow movement ("a rather unusual occurrence!") to be repeated.

Here's the catchy third movement:

144. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Concerto no. 21 (1785)

Recording

Title: Piano Concertos no.21 K.467, no.9 K.271
Performers: Murray Perahia, English Chamber Orchestra
Director: Murray Perahia
Year: 1984
Length: 28 minutes

Review

This concert is very much a companion piece to number 20, it was composed at the same time the orchestration is similar and it is also a masterpiece. Again like in no. 20 the masterpiece is the great slow movement which is one of Mozart's most famous pieces.

That said the whole piece is stupendous and Murray Perahia's performance captures the brilliance of the piece perfectly. Again Mozart is delving into Romantic territory here, while still very much in a classical idiom, there are glimpses of the future throughout the work.

The Piano concerto is often regarded as the medium in which Mozart was at his consistent best, and it is not hard to see why. Great stuff.

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The famous second movement was featured in the 1967 Swedish film Elvira Madigan. The limpid sounds bring to mind a lazy boat ride on a placid lake, which was the imagery used in the movie. This has led to an anachronistic nickname of Elvira Madigan for the concerto. The use of this nickname has decreased in recent years as memories of the seldom-seen Swedish film have faded.

During Marcel Marceau's funeral this was played along with Bach's Cello Suite No. 5.

The Andante:

143. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Concerto no. 20 (1785)

Recording

Title: Piano Concertos 20, 23, 24, 26 & 27
Performer: Clifford Curzon, English Chamber Orchestra
Director: Benjamin Britten
Year: 1970
Length: 33 minutes

Review

Mozart's Piano concertos are something else, possibly only comparable to Beethoven's, and the concertos numbered 20 and over are particularly good, together with the no. 9 "Jeunehomme" that we had before.

They are not only particularly good but also interesting in the way that they are almost prefiguring the Romantics and particularly the other great composer of Piano Concertos, Beethoven.

Here you have a collection of three great movements, the first powerful and dark takes a while to start with the piano, which comes in solo to play the second theme, the second movement is truly a beautiful Romance, with the piano and the Orchestra playing back and forth beautifully, the third movement has an amazing Coda. So no fillers here, it is all good, but I particularly like the Romance as I am a sap.

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

A few days after the first performance, the composer's father, Leopold, visiting in Vienna, wrote to his daughter Nannerl about her brother's recent success: [I heard] an excellent new piano concerto by Wolfgang, on which the copyist was still at work when we got there, and your brother didn't even have time to play through the rondo because he had to oversee the copying operation.

Mitsuko Uchida plays and conducts the Romance, she is a bit freaky, but such a great player:

142. Joseph Haydn - Symphony no.83, "La Poule" (1785)

Recording

Title: Symphonies Nos. 82-87, The Paris Symphonies
Performers: Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra
Director: Adam Fischer
Year: 1992
Length: 25 minutes

Review

This is one of the funnest of Haydn's Symphonies, and having become known as the "Chicken" Symphony gives you an idea why, the first movement has a second theme that sounds pretty much chickeny, in a very abstract way, of course, it doesn't sound like clucking, but it does bring to mind a chicken walking about.

Although this is the most obvious characteristic of the piece, it is by no means the only one, the other theme of the first movement if great, and the rest of the symphony holds its own pretty well. None of it holds up to the first movement, however.

As an example of Haydn's sense of humour there are few better pieces. And for a genre of music which is sometimes thought of as stuffy and not-humorous this does good job of dispelling that idea.

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Parisians had long been familiar with Haydn's symphonies, which were being printed in Paris as early as 1764. H. C. Robbins Landon writes "All during the early 1780's Haydn's symphonies were performed at the vairous Parisian concerts with unvarying success, and numerous publishing houses -- among them Guera in Lyon, Siber, Boyer, Le Duc and Imbault in Paris, etc. -- issued every new symphonic work by Haydn as soon as they could lay hands on a copy."

The work was composed for a large Parisian orchestra called "Le Concert de la loge 'Olympique'" (Orchestra of the 'Olympic' (Masonic) Lodge). This organization consisted in part of professionals and in part of skilled amateurs. It included 40 violins and ten double basses, an extraordinary size of orchestra for the time. (Haydn's own ensemble at Eszterháza was never larger than about 25 total.) According to Robbins Landon, "the musicians wore splendid 'sky-blue' dress coats with elaborate lace ruffles, and swords at their sides." They performed in a large theater with boxes in tiers. The performances were patronized by royalty, including Queen Marie Antoinette, who particularly enjoyed the Symphony No 85, giving rise to its nickname.

The individual responsible for commissioning the symphonies from Haydn was Claude-François-Marie Rigolet, Comte d'Ogny (i.e., count of Ogny), an aristocrat still in his twenties (his life dates were 1757-1790). The Count, who was the "Intendant Général des Postes" (postal service superintendent), grew up in a very musical household, where his father kept a great collection of musical manuscripts. Patronage of music may have been an extravagance for the Count, since at his death he left a huge debt of 100,000 livres.

The actual negotiations with Haydn were carried out at Ogny's request by Joseph Boulogne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, the talented leader of the Loge Olympique orchestra. Haydn was paid 25 louis d'or for each symphony plus 5 louis for the French publication rights; the sum was apparently very satisfactory from Haydn's point of view, since the lack of copyright laws had generally prevented him from profiting much from his popularity as a composer.

Here's the first movement, unfortunately the quality isn't amazing:

141. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Symphony no.36 "Linz" (1783)

Recording

Title: Symphony no. 36, Symphony no. 38
Performer: Prague Chamber Orchestra
Director: Charles Mackerras
Year: 1986
Length: 26 minutes

Review

This is an interesting Symphony for a couple of reasons, firstly it was composed in only 4 days, and that is a testament to Mozart's genius and work capacity, secondly it is the first of his Symphonies to start slow. It isn't the most spectacular of his symphonies, but there is plenty to like here.

It is, all in all quite a light and airy Symphony, Mozart does a particularly good use of tutti throughout the piece, and the finale is the great highlights of the Symphony.

There are more spectacular Mozart symphonies to come, this last three are the particular highlights of his career, and we will have them (39,40,41) here eventually. But while we don't, this is something to whet your appetite. Fun, brilliant and light-hearted.

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The Symphony No. 36 in C major, KV 425, (known as the Linz Symphony) was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart during a stopover in the Austrian town of Linz on his and his wife's way back home to Vienna from Salzburg in late 1783. The entire symphony was written in four days to accommodate the local count's announcement, upon hearing of the Mozarts' arrival in Linz, of a concert.

Linz fragment:

140. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Mass in C minor, "Great" (1783)

Recording

Title: Great Mass in C minor
Performer: Sylvia McNair, Monteverdi Choir
Director: John Eliot Gardiner
Year: 1988
Length: 55 minutes

Review

We have been a long time with no Sacred music on this list, and that only makes the contrast between this and late Baroque music all the greater. Mozart brings a lot of what he learned from Handel and Bach as well as what he learned from composing opera to this.

The operatic flavour of the mass makes it all the more impressive and much less dry, coloraturas abound in the soloist parts mixed in with amazing choir work and orchestration that is more to the front than in other sacred works before this.

This makes for a fascinating work, beautiful, delicate and powerful where needed, it is definitely one of the most beautiful pieces of sacred music to have graced our list until now. I saw this live as a very young child in the Cathedral of my home town, a Romano-Gothic building from the 1100s and it marked me then. It still impresses me now. Spectacular music.

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

The Mass was written as a result of a vow Mozart made with himself in relation to his wife Constanze and his father Leopold and their strained relationship. The Mass was first performed in the Church of St. Peter's Abbey in Salzburg on 26 October 1783. The premiere took place in its natural context of a Roman Catholic mass, and the performers were members of the "Hofmusik", that is the musicians employed at the court of Salzburg's ruler, Prince-Archbishop Hieronymus Colloredo. There was a rehearsal in the nearby Kapellhaus on 23 October.

Kyrie Eleison:

139. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Serenade in B flat major, "Gran Partita" ( c.1783)

Recording

Title: Wind Concertos . Serenade K361
Performers: English Chamber Orchestra
Director: Daniel Barenboim
Year: 1976
Length: 50 minutes

Review

This is one of the first works we have here almost exclusively for wind instruments, with just a bass to keep rhythm in here, and 13 wind instruments it is a pretty impressive piece of work.

The whole work revolves around the sublime adagio, that makes Salieri in the film think that Mozart has been touched by God, and it is hard not to think something similar when hearing the heavenly simplicity of it.

Unfortunately other movements pale in comparison, but if there was no adagio they would be stupendous by themselves. So it is a great work made sublime by an amazing adagio, one of the most sensitive and beautiful pieces of music ever composed.

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

In the 1984 film Amadeus, Antonio Salieri's first encounter with Mozart is at a performance of this work. Salieri has not been impressed with Mozart's boorish behavior before the performance, but as he looks at the music on the page, he describes the beauty and delight of the solo oboe's entry soon thereafter followed by the clarinet's line (in the third movement), leading him to say, “This was no composition by a performing monkey. This was a music I'd never heard. Filled with such longing, such unfulfillable longing. It seemed to me that I was hearing the voice of God.” It is at this point that Salieri first questions how God could choose a vulgar man like Mozart as his voice; this question becomes a primary theme of the film.

The famous scene from the film:

138. Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Abduction from the Seraglio) (1782)

Recording

Title: Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Performers: Arleen Auger, Ren Grist, Peter Schreier, Harald Neukirch, Kurt Moll, Staatskapelle Dresden
Director: Karl Bohm
Year: 1973
Length: 2 hours 20 minutes

Review

Mozart does something really quite different with this opera, firstly it can hardly be called an opera as it is really a Singspiele, a sung play, and in German as well. He would come back to this in the Zauberflote later in his career. Here he creates some great music with what is unfortunately not that amazing a libretto.

This is also one of the most enjoyable Operas we've had just to sit and listen to, the music is stupendous and even if it benefits from seeing it set on stage it works very well just as an auditory piece. The problem is having to go through the spoken word sections which are plentiful.

Part of what makes this so fun is the exotic quality of the opera, Mozart's take on Turkish music is both spectacular and whimsical, making some of the first mock-epic music (there are earlier examples such as Lully's Marche Pour La Ceremonie Des Turcs)but Mozart is particularly whimsical. Then there are some great coloraturas in what would be quite dull arias by Konstanze, Osmir never ceases to amuse and the Janissary choruses are great. Highly Recommended, and it will only get better.

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Die Entführung aus dem Serail is in the genre of "Singspiel", meaning that much of the action is carried forward by spoken dialogue, thus the music lacks recitatives and consists entirely of set numbers.

The work is lighthearted and meant for fun, with little of the deeper character exploration or darker feelings found in Mozart's later operas.[8] It played off a contemporary enthusiasm for the "exotic" culture of the Ottoman Empire, a nation which had only recently ceased to be a military threat to Austria[9] and thus held a piquant interest for the Viennese. Mozart's opera includes a Westernized version of Turkish music, based very loosely on the Turkish Janissary band music, that he had employed in earlier work; see Turkish music (style). Like most comedies of the time, it utilizes many elements in plot and characterization that were first established by the Commedia dell'Arte.

The characters of the opera play off Turkish stereotypes, notably Osmin, the Pasha's comically sinister overseer. However, the opera cannot be entirely considered as stereotyping of the Turks, since the climax of the plot depends on a rather selfless act on the part of the Pasha.

The music includes some of the composer's most spectacular and difficult arias. Osmin's Act III aria "Wie will ich triumphiren" includes characteristic 18th century coloratura passage work, and twice goes down to a low D, the lowest note demanded of any voice in opera.[citation needed] Perhaps the most famous aria in the opera is the long and elaborate "Martern aller Arten" ("Tortures of all kinds") for Konstanze, an outstanding challenge for sopranos. Konstanze sings in a kind of sinfonia concertante with four solo players from the orchestra; the strikingly long orchestral introduction, without stage action, also poses problems for stage directors.

The virtuosity of these roles is perhaps attributable to the fact that when he took up the task of composing the opera, Mozart already knew the outstanding reputations of the singers for whom he was writing, and he tailored the arias to their strengths. The first Osmin was Ludwig Fischer, a bass noted for his wide range and skill in leaping over large intervals with ease. Similarly, Mozart wrote of the first Konstanze, Catarina Cavalieri, "I have sacrificed Konstanze's aria a little to the flexible throat of Mlle. Cavalieri."

The finale:

137. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - "Haydn" Quartets (1782-5)

Recording

Title: Die "Haydn" Quartette
Performers: Hagen Quartett
Year: 1995-2001
Length: 3 CDs, around 3 hours, a bit less.

Review

Now I will ask the list on the book a question: Why make people get a 7 CD box of all of Mozart's quartets when all we need is to get the 3 CD pack that has the Haydn Quartets by the same performers in the same recording but for much cheaper? Because you fucked up, that's why.

So if the above picture is different from that in the book, it is because I am a friend of your pockets. Now these are lovely string quartets, 6 of them, each better than the other, from the catchy Hunt quartet to the crazily innovative Dissonance quartet.

It is this Dissonance quartet that is the big stand out here, it sounds very modern indeed, particularly the opening of the first movement, and if this recording was only that opening it would already be great. But it isn't and you get 5 other concerts, which constitute probably the best String quartets by Mozart. Indispensable.

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Mozart’s published dedication page (Sept. 1, 1785):

To my dear friend Haydn,

A father who had resolved to send his children out into the great world took it to be his duty to confide them to the protection and guidance of a very celebrated Man, especially when the latter by good fortune was at the same time his best Friend. Here they are then, O great Man and dearest Friend, these six children of mine. They are, it is true, the fruit of a long and laborious endevour, yet the hope inspired in my by several Friends that it may be at least partly compensated encourages me, and I flatter myself that this offspring will serve to afford me solace one day. You, yourself, dearest friend, told me of your satisfaction with them during your last Visit to this Capital. It is this indulgence above all which urges me to commend them to you and encourages me to hope that they will not seem to you altogether unworthy of your favour. May it therefore please you to receive them kindly and to be their Father, Guide and Friend! From this moment I resign to you all my rights in them, begging you however to look indulgently upon the defects which the partiality of a Father’s eye may have concealed from me, and in spite of them to continue in your generous Friendship for him who so greatly values it, in expectation of which I am, with all of my Heart, my dearest Friend, your most Sincere Friend,

W.A. Mozart

Haydn first heard the quartets at two gatherings at Mozart's home, 15 January and 12 February, 1785 (on these occasions he apparently just listened, rather than playing a part himself). After hearing them all, Haydn made a now-famous remark to Mozart's father Leopold, who was visiting from Salzburg: "Before God, and as an honest man, I tell you that your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name. He has taste, and, what is more, the most profound knowledge of composition." The comment was preserved in a letter Leopold wrote 16 February to his daughter Nannerl.

The dissonance:

136. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Idomeneo, re di Creta (1781)

Recording

Title: Idomeneo
Performer: Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Anne Sofie Von Otter
Director: John Eliot Gardiner
Year: 1990
Length: 3 hours

Review

Mozart seems to have been aware of Gluck's reformation operas, this is quite clear here, but still there is a particular shine to Mozart's work that is really not present in Gluck. And it is this colourful touch for orchestration and working with voices that makes this opera better than any of the Gluck ones, even if it feels at times more archaic in it's use of secco recitatives.

Gluck was better at making the opera's movements seamless, Mozart was better at making them spectacular. Look at the Quartet of the last Act for example, or the amazing Choir work.

So the libretto isn't that amazing, but Mozart does the best he can with it, and in the end it is very enjoyable with a lot of catchy arias which are also a bit more "da capo-y" than Gluck's. So not as revolutionary as Gluck here, but more enjoyable.

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

It was first performed at the Cuvilliés Theatre of the Residenz in Munich on January 29, 1781. Written when the composer was 24, Idomeneo was Mozart's first mature opera seria, and with it he demonstrated his mastery of orchestral color, accompanied recitatives, and melodic line. In certain respects (e.g., the choirs), however, this opera is still an experimental drama, resulting more in a sequence of sets than in a well developed plot. Mozart also had to fight with the mediocre author of the libretto, the court chaplain Varesco, making large cuts and changes, even down to specific words and vowels disliked by the singers (too many "i"s in "rinvigorir")

Electra's final aria: