Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was perhaps classical music's most supremely gifted melodist, with apologies to Schubert, Mendelssohn and quite a few others. His vast back catalogue includes countless gems from most of the classical music forms and configurations out there, from operas and sacred music via symphonies and concertos, on through chamber music to some wonderful works for solo piano.
Best of Mozart: some unmissable works from the great composer
We hummed and hawed and deliberated over this one - selecting just a few great works from a composer with such a huge and almost universally exquisite back catalogue is a hard job indeed. Few composers would present us with such a challenge, although Bach, Beethoven, Handel, Vivaldi and Schubert (again) would all be tough asks as well. But here goes:
- Vivaldi: six of his best works
- Bach for beginners: the music to help you discover the great composer
1. Requiem (1791, unfinished)
The Requiem occupies a very particular niche in the classical, operatic and sacred music world. The greatest Requiems - those by Fauré, Verdi, Brahms and Britten, for example - sit somewhere along a spectrum in their depiction of death and the afterlife as either a place of hellfire and brimstone, or somewhere blissful and serene.
Mozart’s 1791 Requiem is a masterpiece of sacred music: a work of peerless beauty, power and pathos. Not all of it, we should point out, is actually by Mozart, as the composer died midway through its composition, leaving some movements complete, some in sketch form and some untouched, with the job then being finished by Franz Xaver Süssmayr.
At the emotional heart of this exceptional work is its most poignant movement, the Lacrimosa, of which Mozart wrote eight bars before breathing his last.
Recommended recording: Philharmonia Chorus and Orchestra/Carlo Maria Giulini
2. Vesperae solennes de confessore (Solemn Vespers for a Confessor)
Mozart wrote several choral pieces, but few are as ravishing as the solo towards the end of this otherwise lively work.
The Solemn Vespers is scored for SATB choir and soloists, plus violin, trumpets, trombones, timpani, and basso continuo (the latter featuring cello, double bass, and organ, and optional bassoon obbligato). It consists of six psalms, the first three of which have a cheerful, even exuberant mood. There's then a more austere fourth psalm (sung a capella) and a serene and tranquil fifth movement before, in the closing Magnificat, a return to the bold, optimistic mood of the first three movements.
Recommended recording: Kiri Te Kanawa; London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus/Sir Colin Davis Philips 412 8732
3. String Quartet No. 19 in C, ‘Dissonance’ (1785)
The final string quartet Mozart composed for a Haydn-dedicated set, this famous string quartet starts with a harmonically adventurous passage. It was noted especially for its divergence—especially in the slow introduction—from the then-standard rules of harmony.
The six so-called 'Haydn Quartets' were dedicated to the Austrian composer - and were inspired by Haydn’s own (six) Opus 33 string quartets.
Recommended recording: Belcea Quartet EMI 344 4552
4. Piano Concerto No. 21 in C, K467 (1785)
Mozart’s Piano Concertos are among his greatest achievements, revealing both his orchestral skill and his sense of drama. Choosing one from the 26 completed concertos is no small task - but we'll select, by the very smallest of margins, number 21, thanks to its joyous and exciting first movement and its almost preternaturally serene slow movement. That movement's use in the film of the same name has earned number 21 the nickname of the 'Elvira Madigan', and it's certainly one of the most effective uses of classical music on film.
In all honesty, though, we'd urge you to move swiftly on to various other Mozart piano concertos as soon as you've got a handle on this one. Numbers 17, 19, 22, 23 and 25 are all absolute stunners, as are - of course - the two great minor key concertos, numbers 20 and 24 - the latter, in particular, anticipating the Romantic mood with its expressive piano writing and stormy mood.
Number 20, in fact, got the vote as Mozart's representative in our rundown of the greatest piano concertos of all time. Which just goes to show what an extraordinary seqwuence of masterpieces Mozart's late piano concertos represent: any one of them could be selected as the greatest piano concerto by Mozart or, frankly, anyone.
Recommended recording: Jonathan Biss; Orpheus Chamber Orchestra EMI 217 2702
More best of Mozart: a serenade, an opera, a symphony and more
5. Serenade No. 10 'Gran Partita'
The work most commonly known as the 'Gran Partita' is in fact the tenth in a series of wind serenades by Mozart, which also includes Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. The Serenade No. 10 for winds in B-flat major, K. 361/370a, to give it its fulll title, is scored for 12 wind instruments (two oboes, two clarinets, two basset horns, two bassoons, and four horns) and double bass.
The piece is heard in the great 1984 Mozart film Amadeus. It features at the first meeting between Mozart and his would-be rival, Salieri. The latter has, so far, not been that taken with his younger rival. However, a look at the sheet musi for the Gran Partita changes his mind. 'This was no composition by a performing monkey,' he muses. 'This was a music I'd never heard. Filled with such longing, such unfulfillable longing. It seemed to me that I was hearing the voice of God.'
6. The Marriage of Figaro (opera, 1786)
How to choose a favourite from among the Mozart operas? This category is just as difficult as any of the others we've visited thus far.
The Magic Flute? Don Giovanni? Così fan Tutte? Idomeneo? All are strong candidates, but if forced to choose one we'll go for the work we voted the greatest opera of all time: the wonderful Marriage of Figaro.
Mozart’s comic masterpiece courted controversy by showing a vain aristocrat being bested by his servants, but continues to entertain with its brilliant depth of characterisation.
Recommended recording: Sena Jurinac, Graziella Scuitti, Rise Stevens; Glyndebourne Festival Chorus & Orchestra/Vittorio Gui EMI 476 9422
7. Violin Concerto No. 5 (1775)
As with many forms in which Mozart composed, choosing a favourite violin concerto is quite a tough one. We could easily have gone for the popular and hugely melodic Mozart Violin Concerto No. 3 - but in fact we're going to opt for, by a whisker, the final one of the five. Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5, which we included in our list of the greatest violin concertos of all time.
So, why number 5? Well, partly because the orchestra has more to do in this final concerto, where in the other four it has largely accompanied the violin part. But there's also that memorable Finale, with its so-called 'Turkish' elements: a nod to a contemporary craze for all things Ottoman.
By the way, why not take a look at our recommendations for Mozart violin concertos best recordings?
8. Symphony No. 41 (1788)
In an extraordinary burst of creativity, Mozart composed his last three symphonies in less than three months – and every one a masterpiece. So we come to another of Mozart's bodies of work where it's nigh impossible to choose one work over another (or several others). But if you want to hold our feet to the fire over this, we'll choose the very last Mozart symphony, number 41, also known as the 'Jupiter' Symphony.
That's in large part down to its miraculous final movement, surely classical music's most dazzling fugal creation, with no fewer than five complex and beautiful melodies weaving ingeniously (and, as the movement goes on, ever more movingly) around each other. Not for noting did we select the 'Jupiter' as one of the greatest symphonies of all time.
Recommended recording: Scottish Chamber Orchestra/Sir Charles Mackerras Linn CKD 308
9. Clarinet Concerto (1791)
The composer's final concerto, the Clarinet Concerto was completed less than three months before Mozart passed away in December 1791. It's a piece that seems to excite varying emotional responses: some listeners find an atmosphere of unalloyed joy, others will detect darker shades just underneath that cheerful surface.
That's not the only intriguing ambiguity to this work, either. We also have the question: ‘what sort of clarinet was it written for?’ Mozart would have composed this work for the clarinet with which he would have been familiar: the basset clarinet. That instrument has a deeper range than a modern clarinet, and as a result the work, when played on a basset clarinet, has a slightly darker colour. There are now several recordings available with a basset clarinet solo part, and we'd recommend sampling one of them, just to get a different take on this undoubted masterpiece.
Recommended recording: Thea King (clarinet); English Chamber Orchestra/Jeffrey Tate (Hyperion CDA66199)