Friday, January 27, 2006


I like Mozart, but I'm not buying a bra or a teddy bear to celebrate his 250th birthday today. Instead I'm listening to Mitsuko Uchida playing his piano sonatas. It seems strange now, but at first I didn't much like Mozart. Then one day, while I was at University, I bought a couple of old budget-priced LPs of Ingrid Haebler playing his piano concertos. These recordings were full of fire and passion, and were a far cry from the prettified, lacklustre stuff I'd associated with the composer. Everything fell into place and I began to realise how subtle and heart-rendingly beautiful Mozart's music was too. The works he produced towards the end of his short life - the late symphonies, concertos, and the Requiem - are such stupendous achievements that I could probably even listen to them on a bra.