Donald Satz <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Ulvi Yurtsever wrote:
>
>>My view is that Mozart was a wildly uneven composer,and this remains true
>>in late Mozart...
>
>I never thought of Mozart as a "wildly uneven." But, I'm thinking of it
>now, and I can't agree.  Although there are of course differences in the
>profundity of his works and the quality of his development of themes, I
>think that early or late Mozart shows a composer who always had a gift for
>melodies of lasting value.

This is true, but melodic invention is only one aspect, and not really
that decisive of greatness.  Examples of what I have in mind of Mozart's
ups and downs are the last mvmnt of the G minor string quintet, where
an absolutely gorgeous introduction leads to utterly vacuous music (but
it's melodious allright) which really doesn't belong with the three great
movements that precede it, the last mvmnt of the D minor piano concerto,
where a particularly frivolous new theme tears into the otherwise tight
fabric of the musical argument, and other examples I can go dig up for
you if you want.

Ulvi
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