David Runnion replies to Wes Crone

>Pretty melodies...I am truly amazed that anyone who likes CM could put
>down Mozart like that.  They weren't pretty melodies, Wes, they are the
>most beautiful and perfect melodies ever written by anybody.

Dave you've omitted the very important words "In my opinion" here many
others including myself beg to disagree "in our opinions".

>As much as I like Bach, let's face it, melody is not his big point.
>Harmony and texture, yes, counterpoint, great, the greatest, but melody?
>And what is melody, anyway, but the most basic of musical beauty, song,
>voice, shape, phrase, what we sing.  As much as I am impressed by Bach's
>ability to write fugues and complex counterpoint, it doesn't move me like
>a simple melody,

Agreed, but I think I have already established in previous posts that
it's a different kind of hit. I can get a buzz out of Bach but it
comes in different way from emotional content. It comes from the
sheer amazement that music could be written that hangs together so
well IMV.

>like some of the haunting, perfect melodies of some of Mozart's "childish"
>piano concertos, the heavenly delicacy of the flute/harp concerto, the
>robustness of the Hunt quartet, just to name a few.

"Perfect"? You've forgetten that expression IMHO again.

>We disagree on this one, Wes.  I like Bach a lot, and I admire his output,
>but for me Mozart *is* classical music and is the greatest composer in
>history and his music is as close to absolute perfection as humankind has
>ever approached.

There's that expression I first mentioned a couple of months ago, "Mozart
is classical music".  Some posters have tried to catch me out, knowing I'm
not keen on Mozart, by saying that I have a limited range of interest in
CM.  Not true of course.  However, what could be more limited than that
expression?

I find many Mozart melodies almost unbearably sweet like a sticky toffee
apple.  Personally, I prefer savoury rather than sweet food.

However, when one listens to other classical period composers like
Dittersdorf it is quite obvious that Mozart is like Haydn in a different
league.  It's just I connect more with the latter's output.

That's not a crime is it?

Bob Draper
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