BBC Mozart Season January 2011

[Michael]

For the first half of January next, BBC Radio Three will be playing nothing but Mozart - his complete works. They did the same for Beethoven in 2005 and some time later with Bach. Beethoven took only five days for his oeuvre to be aired but Wolfgang will run to twelve. (Not bad for a chap who died in his thirties.)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11908048

[Chris]

I like this because it exposes people to great works they might otherwise never have heard, but on the other hand, they may be missed anyway when you try to take it all in at once like that.

[Peter]

Oh dear is my reaction! I mean who is going to listen to it all, so one wonders what the point is other than being a bit of a gimmick? Variety is the spice of life and even for a diehard CM fan like most of us here, 12 days of Mozart would be a severe overdose!

[Michael]

Oh dear is my reaction! I mean who is going to listen to it all, so one wonders what the point is other than being a bit of a gimmick? Variety is the spice of life and even for a diehard CM fan like most of us here, 12 days of Mozart would be a severe overdose!

But just think of all the incredible works he wrote when he was two months old? Seriously, though, by Mendelssohnian standards, Mozart was a late developer and a lot of his early stuff isn't very good. If half of Mozart's output was written by an obscure 18th century composer, it would never be heard today.

[Roehre]

If half of Mozart's output was written by an obscure 18th century composer, it would never be heard today.

Exactly my opinion, though I would say that applies to approximately 2/3 of Mozart's oeuvre.

Q: When is symphony no.37 KV444 played?
A: never.

Why? Though it has mozartian qualities (otherwise Köchel and others wouldn't have suggested it were genuine Mozart in the first place), it has been composed by Joseph Haydn's younger brother Michael, an accomplished composer still unjustly being in brother Joseph's shadow (that is: apart from the introduction to the 1st mvt, which IS genuine Mozart)

[Michael]

Yes. I have suffered greatly from being in my brothers's shadow.

[Peter]

Exactly my opinion, though I would say that applies to approximately 2/3 of Mozart's oeuvre.

Q: When is symphony no.37 KV444 played?
A: never.

Why? Though it has mozartian qualities (otherwise Köchel and others wouldn't have suggested it were genuine Mozart in the first place), it has been composed by Joseph Haydn's younger brother Michael, an accomplished composer still unjustly being in brother Joseph's shadow (that is: apart from the introduction to the 1st mvt, which IS genuine Mozart)

Ah but I would say that there is much in those 2/3 that is also unjustly neglected.