Bob Draper wrote:

>Let's not go overboard here.  When I say I liked soem these works I meant
>compared to most of the Mozart output.  but to put these on a par with the
>better Beethoven concertos is going too far.  I'd put them equal with the
>Haydn concerto in D.  You don't even mention the Brahm's concertos which
>are more exciting in my view.

You are comparing chalk with cheese.  Brahms' Piano Concertos are very
good - I would sacrifice  Rachmaninov's certainly before I gave up those.
Piano writing is again entirely idiomatic but in a very very different way.
 He I think realises the fundamental attribute of the piano which is that
it is a percussion instrument.  Mozart very convincingly tells us that it
is not.  However, Brahms wrote 2, Mozart wrote 27.  Mozart in these 27
explore far more the possibilities of the piano in the Classical Style than
Brahms did with his 2 in the Romantic style.  Not a surprise of course,
when you only write 2.  Had he written 5 or 6 say, they would be given at
the very least a mention.  This makes Mozart's more important.  It does not
help to assess the 'Good'ness of Mozart's by saying that Brahms are more
exciting.  They are likely to be more exciting, when they come from the
Romantic era - this does not automatically make them better.

Comparing with Beethoven...  well I am a little hesistant as Beethoven was
such a great writer for the piano. There are not many better examples of
piano writing than in these works.  I think however, the orchestral writing
is weaker certainly than in his symphonies.  I also think he could have
made more of the fact he had a piano and an orchestra, rather than two
separate forces.  Mozart wove the piano into the orchestra in a way that
Beethoven didn't.

>Dave also said that Bach's(?) famous Toccatta and Fugue was a bad work.
>Yet, for many people this is THE work that is synonymous with Bach.  And,
>I have trouble explaining why I like Bach as this is the one work that is
>emotionally stimulating.

Each to his own and all that but I think it is a poor excuse for a piece of
music.  The toccata is a load of exercises strung tattily together and the
fugue is not one.

David Stewart
[log in to unmask]