Marking the day: Mozart

 With respect to St. John, the great revelation for me was Mozart.

He’s one of the musicians who invaded my calendar of literary heroes. He was born on Jan. 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria.

There is so much to love. When I was a young man, I listened to his clarinet concerto and horn concertos over and again. Then I listened to the quartets for horn and for clarinet.

I started listening to Mozart’s works for piano later. Jim Svejda, the host of a wonderful program on orchestral music on KUSC-FM in Los Angeles, said the way to get the measure of Mozart is to listen to his piano concertos. You can get a sense of Mozart’s development, starting at the beginning and on to the tragically early end.

I love the slow movement of Piano No. 21. On most days, I’d say that’s my favorite. On others, I’m lost in No. 23. When someone says “European,” the connotation of that word is the slow movement of No. 23.