I think that you can't appreciate Mozart if you have the wrong mindset. If all you listen to is 19th and 20th century stuff, then Mozart is going to seem boring harmonically. In all honesty, Mozart is much simpler harmonically than most composers (seeing as how classical music was supposed to be simple as people were tired of the complexity of Baroque music.) This isn't really a bad thing though. Romantic music is much simpler rhythmically than Jazz. Does that mean you can't listen to Romantic music? What you need to do is listen to Mozart as a classical composer. If you do that, you can appreciate him.
BTW if you listen to Die Zauberfloete or Don Giovanni and don't love them, you have something seriously wrong with you.
As for the one poster who wrote, "I hope someday to be a good enough pianist to play some of his works" -- Mozart wrote a number of simple pieces that are in third-level books -- such as Minuet in G. So this poster can probably play Mozart any time.
As Horowitz once said: Mozart is simple for beginers and extremely difficult for performers.mozart was a genius whatever anyone might say. and remember that he produced all his music within a 32 year life. that takes some doing
Was Mozart a genius .... ?
did he ever become a great composer as an adult?
I think that you can't appreciate Mozart if you have the wrong mindset.
By no means Mozart had the imagination and skill Bach had. If you look at his fugue No.12 and 24 from book one you will see why.Bach was way ahead of everything Mozart was going to do when he died.
with every genre of music and every style ever made at the convience of our fingertips..we are exposed to new music everyday..romantic..barque..20th century..new age..from gregorian chants to rach 3...i will agree with you on the fact that its hard to find beauty in music when compared to something else..and really what your primary post is..your indirectly comparing mozart's classical music to big dogs like rach beethoven even showpan or sorajbi..with the flare, dissonance, unpredicability, vast tone color and emotion...to truly appreciate mozart and his music you must relaly take it upon yourself to dive into the classical scene...his music was not only appropriate, but also innovative *in his time*...and this is where i dont understand alot of people on this forum.this is a different breed of the same species of category that creates these "whos the better composer" thread..and in reality simply speaking it truly is a matter of comparing apples to oranges...you simply cant...not even in an objective manner..because objectivity has never been..and will never be the underlying foundation for music..as mathematically inclined as Bach was...there was still that IMPORTANT pinch of artistic creativity..and even emotion in his music..we all know it..if we can identify emotion and art in music..it is there..this notion thus eliminated the possibility of firmly and justifiably puttingtwo composers of obvious differences in background and origin back to back and seeing who is taller...and i really cant understand what this trend is of calling mozart's music mediocre...i believe it takes a really delicate and beautiful ear to relaly pinpoint, identify, and *APPRECIATE* subtle changes in mozart's seemingly "redundant" melodies, endings, and or musical profiles...i believe people are caught up in the gymnastic portion of piano..and people forget that piano, as technically stressed as it is today, isnt a pissing contest..this goes for all music..people are so inclined on becoming a virtuoso to a degree and really lose focus on whats really important...i personally appreciate bernhard's post on "easy yet beautiful pieces," because its nice to kmnow that people really appreciate a collection of sound in form of art regardless of its mechanical or technical superiority, if any...that thread got very little posts...yet a thread on which concerto is better..harder..o who plays the hardest biggest longest repertoire will get several posts and sometimes turn into a heated argument as people are passionate about their opinion on difficulty levels..or their abilities...i really love mozart's ,music..along with chopins music..beethovens..brahms...vivaldi..bach...it doesnt matter to me..i favor some composers over other of course..but i wouldnt dare point fingers and call anyones music mediocre...every piece of music has an origin..a meaning..and if one cant identify with it due to lack of understanding..then this should not give a reason to bash the music..people can find music boring..if it doesnt suit your taste..so be it...but ask yourself..WHY doesnt it suit your taste..and if you cant come up with an answer more than simply "its too boring".."its too simple".."its too redundant" for my tastes..then you should probably remeasure the depth of your musical worth...Cheers
NO WAY - You listen to Mozarts Piano Concertos (All of them) and you will see the brilliance of what he did (which wasn't bad seeing as it was only the late 1700's). He really was fantastic... and could have achieved more if he was alive longer... Remember that he died at 35. Bach was 65 when he died.