In the 1960s a renowned European conductor was touring the United States for the first time. At a press conference, a reporter asked him the futile but irresistible question, “Maestro, who is the greatest composer?” The conductor presumably stifled a “not that one again” response before attempting an answer. “There are many great composers. Beethoven, of course, is at the summit, but then so too is Wagner. And of course one cannot overlook Bach.” There was a pause, before the reporter said, “But Maestro, you haven’t mentioned Mozart.” “Well, of course,” scoffed the conductor, “I thought you were talking about the rest.”
And there it is. As great as all the others are, there really is something special about Mozart. Science cannot explain it, neither neurology nor AI. In 1993 three scientists, Rauscher, Shaw and Ky, found that listening to Mozart could improve a person’s performance on certain IQ test questions for a period of up to 15 minutes. The media went wild with exaggerated claims for ‘The Mozart Effect’, and suddenly helicopter parents all over the world were drowning their toddlers in Mozart in the belief that they were raising a generation of geniuses. “Mozart today, Mensa tomorrow!”, was their motto. And although subsequent research has not proved that Mozart can make us smarter, music lovers know the truth – Mozart makes us happier. We intuit that Mozart gets as close to the heart of what we call music as any human can. Concert promoters also know this, which is why the annual Mostly Mozart series, presented by ANAM and the Melbourne Recital Centre, has been such a successful fixture for so long.
ANAM Artistic Director, Paavali Jumppanen, believes that our love for Mozart is partly due to his ability to speak to us on more than one emotional plane at once, how a single Mozartean phrase can convey “the tear behind the smile.” This notion cannot be empirically quantified, but I know exactly what Paavali means. Personally, I am frequently amazed at the way Mozart can take the most rudimentary musical building blocks and turn them into something arresting and melodic. Take the opening bars of his Sonata for piano duo, K381, in which he joins a simple scale (going up) with an arpeggio (going down), two elements which are nothing special, but in Mozart’s hands become the most effervescent joy. He is like a couturier who can scoop up overlooked offcuts from the floor and fashion them into a beautiful garment. No one else does it better.
The 2025 Mostly Mozart series sees Wolfgang rub shoulders with some interesting company. In Serenade his magical ‘Posthorn’ Serenade is preceded by Debussy’s swoon-inducing Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun in the chamber arrangement by Benno Sachs. The second concert places Mozart’s contribution to the string quartet in the context of Haydn, who came before and Beethoven, who came after. The relationship between Mozart and Haydn deserves special note. Despite their age difference of 24 years, this was a bromance for the ages. Mozart learned from the older composer what a string quartet could be, and the two met several times to play quartets with Baron Dittersdorf and Johann Vanhal. The six quartets Mozart composed in the period 1782-85 mark his maturity in the genre, and he dedicated the set to Haydn. Without in any way belittling Haydn’s glorious achievement, it is immediately obvious that Mozart’s quartets open up the genre even further with an expansiveness which leaves behind all galant frippery. Beethoven picked up the thread, and his mighty Great Fugue is the result.
Other 2025 highlights include Shostakovich’s searing Chamber Symphony, transcribed from his String Quartet no. 8, and composed during a visit to the bomb-ravaged city of Dresden. What better antidote than Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik? The series comes to a brilliant, Gallic denouement in Mozart’s Piano Concerto no. 25, in which a march-like tune in the first movement seems to hint at La Marseillaise. Scholars are still debating whether Mozart’s tune influenced Claude de Lisle’s patriotic song, or whether both were quoting a pre-existing song. ANAM’s Head of Piano, Timothy Young will supply his own take on the tune with a 4-hand arrangement for fortepiano. Bring your tricolour and beret.
Words by Philip Lambert
Our four concert series Mostly Mozart is now on sale!