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. Actually, I'd consider Haydn the more variable of the two. Ulvi also stated that Haydn's piano sonatas were of "generally higher quality" than Mozart's. I do agree that Haydn's best piano sonatas are better. Here again, though, I'd say that Mozart's piano sonatas are more consistently excellent than Haydn's. Summing up, Mozart's output was more even than that of most composers including Haydn. Further, although Mozart's early sonatas do not compare well to the later ones, they are still mighly fine unless you are looking for the insight of life experiences. I don't play the early sonatas when I'm looking for "blood" or trying to boost myself up for a pressured day. In those circumstances, I like to listen to pieces like Beethoven's Choral Fantasy or the Prelude from Die Meistersinger to get a jump start. I could use one right now. Don Satz [log in to unmask]