RE: Mozart was a bad composer...

["Williamson, Mark" <MWilliamson@alston.com>]

I don't think there is anything that makes Mozart "better" than CPE Bach or
Haydn.  Certainly Haydn and Mozart thought of each other as equals and the
very best of friends -- in fact apparently each thought of the other as the
more important artist.  Mozart "clicked" for me around age 18 (I won't admit
how long ago that was) when I started to discover the "right" performers,
the ones who can walk that razor-thin line between classical "restraint"
(whatever that means) and the passion that underlies this kind of music.  I
remember a Karl Böhm (sp?) recording of the Haffner (35) and Prague (38)
symphonies as being particularly important to me.  In the hands of the wrong
performer, the music can sound "boring" or "simple" in way that it
shouldn't.

The ironic thing about this whole discussion is that I have always found
Gould's Mozart sonatas very exciting . . .  I wonder to what extent Gould
was just yanking our collective chains.

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Thayer A [SMTP:A.Thayer@rhbnc.ac.uk]
> Sent:	Friday, November 05, 1999 6:13 AM
> To:	'f minor'
> Subject:	RE: Mozart was a bad composer...
> 
> 
> 
> > I'm sure Mozart would lose a lot of sleep over your analysis.
> > 
> Not the most convinving argument of all time I admit, but I really do hate
> most of his music (I'm not merely influenced by Gould's view, Mozart has
> never meant anything to me). Is there really something about Mozart's
> music
> which makes it stand out from Haydn and C.P.E. Bach, or are we just
> brought
> up to believe he was better? 
> 
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From:	Thayer A [SMTP:A.Thayer@rhbnc.ac.uk]
> > > Sent:	Thursday, November 04, 1999 11:53 AM
> > > To:	'BONG'; 'f minor'
> > > Subject:	RE: Mozart was a bad composer...
> > > 
> > > > A very infantile and groundless quotation. If it's Gould, I can't
> > > respect
> > > > him any more.
> > > > 
> > > > Juozas Rimas
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > Personally I agree entirely with Gould. Mozart is a very over-rated
> > > composer, whose music is riddled with appalling cliches (and yes they
> > were
> > > cliches in his day not just ours). He has brief moments of quality,
> but
> > > the
> > > music always reverts to an appallingly obvious and over-used cadence,
> > > after
> > > a few brief seconds of interest. The early classical style was a case
> of
> > > musical degeneration, for me, not any kind of real advancement. It
> moves
> > > away from the tight structure and advanced counterpoint of Bach, but
> > does
> > > not acheive the same emotional quality as romantic music. I regard
> > Mozart
> > > as
> > > an important developmental composer, but this does not make him a
> great
> > > composer (same with Liszt in many ways). I think it is a case of
> Mozart
> > > having taken a step backwards, to allow later composers to take two
> > steps
> > > forwards. Anyway, I'm not going to bore you by ranting on about this
> > > forever. These are just my basic views on his music.
> > > 
> > > Andrew
> > 
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> > 

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