tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5887440039323868659.post2073625133315138559..comments2024-03-28T22:15:25.617-07:00Comments on RAWIllumination.net: Celebrating Mozart's birthdayCleveland Okie (Tom Jackson)http://www.blogger.com/profile/07810736442596736041noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5887440039323868659.post-22225938333446367592014-01-29T12:58:20.452-08:002014-01-29T12:58:20.452-08:00Thanks for the shout out, Tom!
I enjoy these post...Thanks for the shout out, Tom!<br /><br />I enjoy these posts and comments on classical music; find them helpful and educational for my classically challenged music listening repertoire.Oz Fritzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06061222169144560970noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5887440039323868659.post-7661167765649701882014-01-29T08:49:51.322-08:002014-01-29T08:49:51.322-08:00When I was studying at university, being a saxopho...When I was studying at university, being a saxophonist I didn't get much opportunity to play any Mozart. We had a lot of Bach transcriptions, a bit of Beethoven, but mostly 20th C. repertoire. Yet I consistently heard from the piano students that Mozart was incredibly difficult to play -- not in the same way that a Bach 4-part fugue is difficult, or like a dense and pounding Beethoven sonata, but difficult to achieve the right level of clarity. Mozart's music can appear light, and pretty, and even frivolous, but not a single note is out of place, and if you play a wrong note it jumps out at you immediately. <br /><br />Modern composers tend to cite Bach and Stravinsky as major influences, but it would be nice to hear Mozart touted as an indispensable model again. It could inject some much needed clarity into our over-stimulated internet life. CrypticMusichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03997516833955579050noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5887440039323868659.post-75633063733623393462014-01-29T08:03:56.854-08:002014-01-29T08:03:56.854-08:00Faure! No, I guess I wouldn't say that really...Faure! No, I guess I wouldn't say that really; I just have his first Violin Sontata on right now, which I consider one the most magical pieces ever. Great post, as usual. I plan to listen to more Mozart this weekend. I listened to part of a piano concerto this morning (I think K595, #27). I plan to listen to two recordings of #23, K488, this weekend because a friend just mentioned that concerto to me. I personally like #25, K503, best, largely because I love the book on it edited by Joseph Kerman. About 20 years ago I saw that book in a Tower Records. (I miss Tower.) My local libraries didn't have the book, and I couldn't afford to buy it. It has come to symbolize for me all my bad decisions about money over the decades. After I moved to California I got a copy from a library here and read it twice.<br /><br />I remember reading a great article in Contemporary Keyboard magazine around 1980 called "How to Play the Name That Composer Musical Intimidation Game." It jokingly referred to Mozart as the "Greatest Musical G.O.A.T" (Genius of All Time). Interestingly, Mozart's reputation sagged in the nineteenth century. People considered him too frivolous during the canonical reign of the Three B's (Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms). Richard Strauss helped to elevate Mozart's reputation, and Mozart's reputation seemed to peak in the 1980's with the play and movie Amadeus and the pop song of the same name.<br /><br />I find it interesting that Ezra Pound and Louis Zukofsky both saw J. S. Bach as the great composer. Eric Wagnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04312033917401203598noreply@blogger.com