"How seemly, then, to celebrate the birth
Of one who did no harm to our poor earth,
Created masterpieces by the dozen,
Indulged in toilet humor with his cousin,
And had a pauper's funeral in the rain,
The like of whom we shall not see again."
“Mozart” - W.H. Auden
5 comments:
Good thing he didn't have an XBox--
:-D
Jazz musicians also record Mozart. For instance, here is Bobby McFerrin and Chic Corea doing the piano concertos nos. 20 & 23. I believe Keith Jarret has also made recordings. What makes this interesting to me is that these performers have brought improvisation back into the music. What would a Mozart piano performance have been without some improvisation? How *else* could one be faithful to the composers intentions?
Proving that even an old conservative can appreciate the work of NPR, I just heard the four hour Mozart 250 concert it carried from the Grosse Festspielhaus in Salzburg with Muhti, Cecelia Bartoli, Thomas Hampson, and a host of others. First rate.
Even the flu couldn't dim the warm glow.
A helluvalot better than listening to Kerry drone on about a doomed filibuster.
Heh, and here is Bobby McFerrin on Mozart:
"I love Mozart so much I could devote the rest of my life to conducting his music," McFerrin says. "It's absolutely serious fun. There's something in Mozart that's very compatible with me, the way he swings and rocks. There's a lot of air, breathing room, in his music. It's lots of fun, very energetic and joyfully interesting. I love where his music goes, the moods he emotes."
Mozart swings and rocks. Now that's a description you won't find in most commentary.
Improvisation was the norm back then...at least for the coda in concerti.
Some deference, after all, was given to the performers too.
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