# How To Make Mozart An Acquired Taste



## JohannesBrahms (Apr 22, 2013)

For a while, I have been thinking about Mozart and why I don't like his music very much. I have decided that he was, after all, an important composer, and that it would be worthwhile to get to know his music. I've tried, and it appears that it may take a while before he becomes an "acquired taste". To anybody who thinks this can't be done, I have made Bach and Brahms acquired tastes and am in the process of doing the same with Chopin and Mendelssohn. I'm not quite sure where to start with Mozart, though, so I'm asking any of you who care enough for ideas. All of you Mozart lovers, don't miss your chance to make a convert out of me!


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

I'd start with his concertos, which to me are the best of his output. Especially the clarinet concerto, and any piano concerto from say 20 onward (others will include #9).


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## Kevin Pearson (Aug 14, 2009)

I personally I would recommend you start with his piano and violin concertos and his string quartets. Also his later symphonies.

Kevin


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## Guest (Oct 11, 2013)

Your username is JohannesBrahms and you had to make Brahms an "acquired taste?"

You'll have to forgive me, but I find it a little bit humorous. I know individual tastes vary, and to each his/her own, but the names you list as requiring the development of an "acquired taste" are some of the more universally popular composers - Bach, Brahms, Mozart, Chopin, Mendelssohn. I could understand if we were talking about Schoenberg, or Messiaen, or Berg. But your list contains 2 of the great B's.

Listen to Mozart's music. There are far too many to list all the really great works. I would start out with this list:
http://classicalcdguide.com/composers/mozart.htm
Although you don't necessarily need these specific recordings, they are a good start, and some of them very good (the Perlman/Zuckerman Sinfonia concertante is one of my favorites).


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

JohannesBrahms said:


> don't miss your chance to make a convert out of me!


But you convert yourself, and every taste is acquired so what's the rush?


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

DrMike said:


> I could understand if we were talking about Schoenberg, or Messiaen, or Berg.


Why is this inherently more understandable? I enjoyed Messiaen and Schoenberg the first time I heard their music. On the other hand, I didn't see the beauty in Brahms's first upon first hearing.

As for the main topic, I agree with what others have said so far. Start with the later Mozart works, and go for the early ones only afterwards if you're interested in the skill of the child Mozart. In addition to the String Quartets, don't forget the Quintets!


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

It would help to know what you don't like about Mozart's music. If you could identify that, it would be great!


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

violadude said:


> It would help to know what you don't like about Mozart's music. If you could identify that, it would be great!


Just don't ruin Mozart for me in the process! :lol:

To the op: glad to hear you're discovering a lot of great music! Mozart has always been special to me. Initially I tended mostly to listen to his rare "dark" pieces: the 20th & 23rd piano concertos, the overture to Don Giovanni, the "tragic" symphony, and the "dissonant" quartet. You might like to start with those. Have fun, in any case.

I'll also echo Mahlerian's mention of the string quintets. The String Quintet in C is on my shortlist of great chamber works of the classical period, and the one in G minor really tugs at the heartstrings.

By the way, some people are put off by Mozart's extraordinary facility (strange, I know). I myself was surprised to learn that there are extant letters indicating that he played the slow movements of his piano works more slowly than his friends did.

The Adagio in B minor tells you all you need to know about what a soulful man he was: 




*p.s.* Be sure to drop back into the thread to let us know your impressions of Mozart as you get to know him a bit better!


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## Garlic (May 3, 2013)

I agree with whoever (someone famous) said Mozart is the most difficult of the major composers. The surface simplicity can really work against him. Try his minor key works, I found them more accessible when I was first getting into him.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Try his four late-great operas:


_Le nozze di Figaro_, K. 492 (1786)
_Don Giovanni_, K. 527 (1787)
_Così fan tutte_, K. 588 (1789)
_Die Zauberflöte_, K. 620 (1791)
Personally I could do without his instrumental works.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Art Rock said:


> I'd start with his concertos, which to me are the best of his output. Especially the clarinet concerto, and any piano concerto from say 20 onward (others will include #9).


The concertos are where I started - by accident, but still - eventually deciding that it's in the chamber music where he is at.


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## JohannesBrahms (Apr 22, 2013)

DrMike said:


> Your username is JohannesBrahms and you had to make Brahms an "acquired taste?"
> 
> You'll have to forgive me, but I find it a little bit humorous. I know individual tastes vary, and to each his/her own, but the names you list as requiring the development of an "acquired taste" are some of the more universally popular composers - Bach, Brahms, Mozart, Chopin, Mendelssohn. I could understand if we were talking about Schoenberg, or Messiaen, or Berg. But your list contains 2 of the great B's.


I don't fault you in the least for finding it humorous. In fact, I almost laughed at it myself when I read your post. I used the username JohannesBrahms because at the time I was getting really into Brahms and I needed a username.

I'm not sure why the more popular composers were hard for me to get into. Really, only Beethoven and Rachmaninoff were composers I liked immediately. The others took time before I began to seriously enjoy them. Thanks everybody for suggestions!


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

Couchie said:


> Try his four late-great operas:
> 
> 
> _Le nozze di Figaro_, K. 492 (1786)
> ...


good choices, but if you don't want to/have time to invest in 3 hour operas to begin with, try *Lo sposo deluso*, of which only a 20min fragment remains but it gives you a pretty decent idea of what his buffa operas sound like. I wish he finished it, it's quite amusing.


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## Guest (Oct 11, 2013)

His Divertimento in E Flat major is one of his greatest chamber works, and there have been several excellent recordings of it lately.

But one of my absolute favorite Mozart recordings was also one of my first Mozart recordings - his complete string quintets (and including the above mentioned Divertimento) performed by the Grumiaux Trio with Gerecz and Lesueur on Phillips. Other composers wrote one or two great string quintets, but Mozart wrote several.


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## Andolink (Oct 29, 2012)

Absorbing the music on this disc should go a long way to your acquiring a taste for Mozart:


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

There are conversion works which are used to aid a suspect in getting over the hump. For example, you like Brahms, you have a grounding in Romantic works, so go listen to* PC #20*, it'll give you an intro into more explicit emotional depth in Mozart. But follow it rapidly - as he did! - with *#21 i*n C-major: it'll show you his breath-taking generosity in generating ideas and melodies and mood swings within a few bars, let alone a single movement.

These are direct and accessible. Likewise his *last 3 symphs*, which are famous for the main part, but then switcheroo and listen to *#38*, the Prague, with its opening movement which foreshadows Don Giovanni. Then listen to *Don Giovanni*. Not all of it, maybe (though it's worth it), but the start, get a flavour of how the comic and the dark snuggle so closely together in Mozart.

With these as a start, you'll see I picked works which were composed close to each other: the two PC's, or the last 3 symphs, and then symph #38 followed by DG. It gives you an idea of the range of his music in a very short space of time.

I could keep recommending stuff, and would certainly urge you to try out his variety: after a PC, listen to a piano quartet. There's only two of them, you decide. * K478 *or *K493*. You'll find writing here as extreme as chamber music went at the time - and as great as chamber music realistically can be. Go smaller: *K481*, a sonata for piano and violin. Then expand, and go for *K482 *- next in the canon - PC #22. Contrasts will give you an insight into his range. But I also find it helps me understand his music more if I focus narrowly on a certain period and lap it all up. Here's an example. I was going to do more of these kind of threads but as Bob Dylan once groaned, _time is an enemy!_

For vocal music, grab *The Magic Flute* and become a Mozart addict. It's the short cut.

Enjoy it all! :tiphat:


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

The only way to not be able to appreciate Mozart is to turn off your brain and use it as background music. If you pay attention and follow it carefully, the structure behind the ornament becomes clear... and it's a very interesting and unpredictable thing.

Here is a good place to get your feet wet. 9 CDs of violin and wind concertos for $14 shipped to the US

http://www.amazon.de/Violin--Bläserkonzerte-Various/dp/B008CYV02I/


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## trazom (Apr 13, 2009)

Art Rock said:


> I'd start with his concertos, which to me are the best of his output. Especially the clarinet concerto, and any piano concerto from say 20 onward (others will include #9).


All the concertos from 9 onwards should be listened to.


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

trazom said:


> All the concertos from 9 onwards should be listened to.


And so should #'s 5-8...


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## shangoyal (Sep 22, 2013)

Listen to the Piano Sonata K. 331 and the Jupiter symphony, and tell us if your heart is not moved.


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

Kieran said:


> And so should #'s 5-8...


I've always loved 8 (so underrated just because it isn't 'big'), and 5 has a nice Youtube performance with Frager.


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## Guest (Oct 11, 2013)

DrMike said:


> But your list contains 2 of the great B's.


Hey DrMike, weren't you around for the discussion of the three B's a coupla years ago?

The list actually contains only one of the original "great" B's. The other two being Beethoven and Berlioz.

(The phrase was coined by Peter Cornelius. Later, Hans Von Bulow would come along and replace Cornelius' Berlioz with Brahms. And now everyone just takes "Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms" for granted, as if that were a thing that just is and not something made up by someone--in this case, made up one someone and then altered by another someone.)

Anyway, I was sure you were around for that. Just curious. My memory is not really all that...

...um.

All that.

(What were we talking about?)

Anyway, the OP intrigues me. JohannesBrahms has already acquired two tasty composers and is in the process of adding more but is having trouble knowing where to start with Mozart?

Sheesh. I wooda said "start any old where; it's Mozart, after all."

But now I'm curious. How did you know where to start with the others?


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## JohannesBrahms (Apr 22, 2013)

I can certainly tell Kieran isn't a big fan of Mozart(in a voice dripping with sarcasm).



> Anyway, the OP intrigues me. JohannesBrahms has already acquired two tasty composers and is in the process of adding more but is having trouble knowing where to start with Mozart?
> 
> Sheesh. I wooda said "start any old where; it's Mozart, after all."
> 
> But now I'm curious. How did you know where to start with the others?


I don't know really where I started with the other composers. Their compositional output didn't overwhelm me like Mozart's did. I also thought perhaps a systematized approach to Mozart might be more effective than haphazard listening, such as I did with Bach, Brahms, etc.


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## Classical Saxophonist (Oct 11, 2013)

His _Oboe Concerto in C major_ is excellent.


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## Andreas (Apr 27, 2012)

Start with _Amadeus_, that won me over!


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## Guest (Oct 14, 2013)

Here is my list of Mozart favorites:

Violin concerto No. 5 - Andrew Manze/English Concert - Harmonia Mundi
Clarinet concerto - Martin Frost - BIS
Clarinet quintet - Martin Frost - BIS
Divertimento in E flat major - Henning Kraggerud et al. - Naxos
Coronation Mass - Trevor Pinnock/English Concert - Archiv
Eine kleine Nachtmusik - Andrew Manze/English Concert - Harmonia Mundi
Requiem - Bruno Weill/Tafelmusik - Sony
Sinfonia concertante - Perlman, Zuckerman/Israel Philharmonic - DG
Symphonies 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41 - Jiri Belohlavek/Prague Philharmonia and Rene Jacobs/Freiburger Barockorchester - Harmonia Mundi
The Magic Flute - Rene Jacobs - Harmonia Mundi or Otto Klemperer - EMI


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Andreas said:


> Start with _Amadeus_, that won me over!


Salieri describing the Serenade is one of my favorites scenes on film.






Mozart was an acquired taste for me also. I agree with the comments already posted. What won me over, personally, was the piano concertos and the Marriage of Figaro (and I don't necessarily like opera).


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