Apologies to Schubert, Mendelssohn and a few others: but Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart must stand as music's most supremely gifted melodist.
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. Selecting just a few great works from a composer with such a huge and almost universally exquisite back catalogue is a hard job indeed. But here goes.
1. Requiem (1791, unfinished)
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.
Best recording: Philharmonia Chorus and Orchestra/Carlo Maria Giulini
2. Solemn Vespers (1780)
Mozart wrote several choral pieces, but few are as ravishing as the solo towards the end of this otherwise lively work. The Solemn Vespers 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.
Best recording: Kiri Te Kanawa | Philips 412 8732
3. 'Dissonance' Quartet (1785)
The last of six quartets 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.
Best recording: Belcea Quartet | EMI 344 4552
4. Piano Concerto No. 21 (1785)
Mozart’s Piano Concertos are among his greatest achievements, revealing both his orchestral skill and his sense of drama. There are many highlights - but let's start with number 21, with 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.
Best recording: Jonathan Biss; Orpheus Chamber Orchestra | EMI 217 2702
5. Symphony No. 25 (1773)
Written at the age of just 17, the Symphony No. 25 is one of only two symphonies he wrote in a minor key - the other being the famous No. 40. Number 25, indeed, is often known as the 'Little G minor' symphony, as opposed No. 40, written in the same key but on a grander scale. It's a prime example of the Sturm und Drang style, a late 18th century precursor to Romanticism with its emotional intensity, dramatic melodies and dynamic contrasts.
Best recording: Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra/Ton Koopman
More best of Mozart: a serenade, an opera, a symphony and more
6. Gran Partita (1781)
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 the famous Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.
The piece is heard in the great 1984 Mozart film Amadeus. Mozart's would-be rival Salieri (pictured) has, so far, not been that taken with his younger rival. However, a look at the sheet music 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.'
Best recording: Orchestra of the 18th Century / Frans Bruggen
7. Piano Sonata No. 11 (1783)
Mozart's best-known piano sonata begins with a theme and variations movement: a lyrical and graceful theme, followed by six variations on that theme. Each of these explores the melodic and harmonic possibilities within the main theme in beautifully inventive ways. The second movement is a Minuet and Trio, a stately dance in triple meter.
We finish with the famous 'Rondo alla Turca', an Allegretto movement that imitates the lively, percussive soundworld of Turkish janissary bands, highly popular in European music at the time. You know this melody. You just do. Listen below.
Best recording: Mitsuko Uchida
8. The Marriage of Figaro (opera, 1786)
How to choose a favourite from among the Mozart operas? 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.
Best recording: Sena Jurinac et al; Glyndebourne/Vittorio Gui EMI 476 9422
9. Violin Concerto No. 5 (1775)
As ever with this composer, choosing a favourite among his five violin concertos is a tough ask. We could easily have gone for the popular and hugely melodic Mozart Violin Concerto No. 3 - but in fact we're opting, by a whisker, for No. 5 (which we also 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.
Best recording: Renaud Capuçon/Lausanne Chamber Orchestra
10. 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 fugue, 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
11. 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)
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