I know this is going to sound like heresy, but I'm not all that fond of Mozart. I can enjoy the technical challenges of PLAYING Mozart, but listening to his music doesn't really do anything for me. If I sound like an ignorant John Q. Public, so be it. I just find most of his stuff boring, and it seems that a large majority of our local concertgoing folks do, too. Years ago our orchestra did an all-Mozart program with a superb conductor, and we had perhaps the smallest audience numbers ever. My other orchestra had tried doing a chamber orchestra concert every season, but I suspect that "too much Mozart" was responsible for the demise of the project.
Don't get me wrong....He was undoubtedly a genius, and contributed immeasurably to musical composition as a whole. My ears are simply spoiled by the thicker, richer instrumentation of later composers, and on the other side the pure, clean mastery of Bach. I guess I find his music too fluffy. Outside of the Requiem, most everything seems capricious and insincere.
Maybe it has to do with the lack of really good bowing technique in our area string players. Maybe I just haven't heard Mozart as he should sound....Our sloppy bowing (among other ills) was called on the carpet last night at a rehearsal, resulting in a two-hour violin sectional with audience (the rest of us). It was, to say the least, embarrassing to have our fine, new conductor run the violins through their paces like they should have already done in their own practice rooms. I am glad he took the time though, and hope they learned something.
At any rate, I keep my fingers crossed that we won't be doing any Mozart symphonies in the next couple of seasons (I am sure our conductor would agree that we aren't ready anyway). This weekend, it's Mendelssohn and Piazzolla....Woo-hoo!