This is a blog I drop into now and then to post and good to know it is here but it will only be updated as and when the spirit moves me or I see something wonderful in the theatre/opera house etc or, as in this case, have heard some music which has inspired me to write.
Radio 3 are in the final few days of their Genius of Mozart which began in the New Year. The BBC are playing every single piece of music he composed and what an eye opener it has been. There have been discussion programmes, interviews with Mozart interpreters and the entire thing has been a feast for the ear. I knew a bit about Mozart, but not a huge amount so hearing all about his life and hearing his letters and thoughts has been fascinating. I realised how little of his music I really knew and here I have to state that on the whole I find the operas a tad tedious. I know this is heresy, along the lines of admitting that I find a lot of Bach boring, but there it is. I have seen Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Il Seraglio, Don Giovanni, Idomeneo and Cosi fan Tutte and by the time I reached the final act of all of these I had had enough. When I think about it I have a feeling that I had very little empathy with the characters in these operas, particularly Cosi and Giovanni when I thought everyone was venal and unlikeable. I have tried, really I have and have seen each of these several times but just cannot warm to them at all.
BUT there is an exception to every rule and that exception is The Magic Flute. This is the Mozart opera I love the best, I adore every single note and I find it uplifting and I am usually in tears at the end. (Here is a link to my review of a performance I saw at the ENO a year or so ago. It is simply wonderful. I also go on a bit about my feelings on his operas!). At the moment I am listening to a broadcast on Radio 3 of the entire opera and, once again, am enthralled by it. Funny is it not, one's likes and dislikes?
I have also taken in a big way to his woodwind compositions and Serenades and yesterday afternoon, in the company of my good friend Rosemary, we sat after lunch just quietly relaxing, me dozing, she doing the Guardian crossword (oo-er) and listened to the Grand Partita, and some of his Serenades. Utterly sublime with moments of quietness and stillness at the heart of them all so that when listening it is almost as if time has been suspended.
I began to enjoy Mozart after I had had a binge, many years ago, on Wagner. The ENO were producing their first Ring Cycle in English over a period of four years. Throughout the four seasons each opera was staged I attended each performance, so that I saw the Rhinegold, the Valkyrie, Siegfried and Twilight of the Gods eight times and then two complete Cycles when they were all brought together. I was totally soaked in Wagner, but also a tad shattered by it all. Too much Wagner can make you mad and I needed some respite so I turned to Mozart and began to listen to the piano concertos. Just what I needed and I regained my equilibrium.
Apparently, there have been complaints about the blanket coverage given to this concept. I simply cannot comprehend why somebody would want to moan because there was 'too much Mozart' on the radio. Much as I love Wagner, if they decided to repeat this by playing every note he wrote, then I would have sympathy, but I have none for these miscreants.
Now if Radio 3 would do the same for Beethoven, I would be a happy woman.
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