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Yes, 1787 Mozart's only really interesting when he explores these minor keys in depth. Range of emotions and the amount of detail is astounding. If you haven't yet, I recommend you learn it . And Haydn...well, doesn't come close to that.
Mozart is practically always detectable when you hear a trill on the supertonic in the V7 preceding the final chord. How many times has it appeared in all of his compositions? I have no idea. And Mozart, unlike popular belief that he came up with everything right from the mind and prescribes unchanged down on the paper well, that's wrong. Mozart had drafts which he all burned.
I don't quite understand what you mean by lines and directions you wouldn't follow. Do you mean Mozart's line are easier to follow than romantic composers? That is possibly true. Mozart's writing is transparent and not particularly sophisticated. In Chopin the writing is still transparent but practically everything makes perfect sense in voice-leading, chord progression, lines and directions, even the pattern of each legatissimo passages. Sometimes when I play Chopin and be confronted with a barrage of notes I cry in despair 'Why why why...' and then there is always a way to solve this puzzle by applying classical or baroque traditions. Chopin's great at inventing logical patterns that lends itself to the rest of the piece, and being a fan of analysis, he sure will hide them well.
Chopin gave few concerts in his lifetime and performed mostly in salons. But yes, there is evidence that he could play everything he had ever written, depending on his health at the time (Thus maybe physically incapable of playing a concerto but technically able to). Chopin also takes liberty with his work and change dynamics, add notes, subtract notes, add/minus bars, fingering at will, so rather like Mozart, each time he plays a piece it is different in some ways.
Have you played much Chopin? I knew you said you played some waltzes but they are hardly his best

05-Jun-2012 13:02:47

The Romantic Period is too miserable for me. I prefer the exploration of the major tonalities throughout the classical period.
I love the trills! Don't kill the trills!
The "Amadeus" movie did take that "one draft" concept and make into a seemingly factual imposition but there is evidence to suggest many pieces were created in such a way. He could finish symphonies (which are probably my favourite pieces written by him) in single carriage ventures. It is, of course, hard to find evidence of burnt draft because, well, they're burnt, but yes. I have read evidence on that too.
No, I didn't mean simplistic lines. I meant development and such. The music builds in a way in which I identify with.
Let's also not forget that Mozart, alongside Haydn, set out sonata form, and though romantic composers played around with it, the structure allowed much of the musical progression that we have seen.
Ah, health... *mutters something about wishing Mozart lived as long as Haydn did*
I play a few scherzos, the most famous nocturne which I can't remember the number for, waltzes as I said and one a half etudes.
What else do you play?

05-Jun-2012 13:24:23

Guess it depends on your outlook in life. I see life as nothing but pain and even more pain, redeemed by bittersweet moments in between before an inevitable death. And music should be a reflection of life. Major tonalities just doesn't work for me unless in the shape of Brahms.
Kill trills! Kill those trills!
Yes well, they are burnt, but my lecturer presented me with accounts and such and so I would think there are grounds to assume Mozart write drafts.
Good that you can identify with it.
They may have set out a 'sonata form' that we know today, but they didn't invent it from nothing. They merely take upon the concepts of binary form and rounded binary form from the baroque period and, let's not forget contemporaries such as Dittersdorf also would be toying with forms so it may be safe to assume they didn't invent anything. They merely 'perfected' a formula (First subject, energy gain, contrasting second subject -> V. Development -> I. Recapitulation) through which they could fill out all the notes with ease and produce vast quantity of work for the court in a short time. Having heard such forms played so many times, Romantic composers had no choice but to alter it in their own ways.
Heh, if Haydn lived as long as Mozart did, we wouldn't remember him as a composer at all.
Chopin's Scherzos are quite intriguing works. The Chopin humour is...well, not really humour.
If you can play the scherzos then you will have acquired a substantial technical level. I would recommend you trying Chopin's F-sharp major Impromptu or Chopin's Fourth Ballade. Heard those before? Rubinstein made some excellent recordings of them on Youtube.

05-Jun-2012 13:42:50

22-Jun-2012 23:52:59

Thanks

24-Jun-2012 13:02:48

22-Jul-2012 05:22:17

And two months since mine

29-Aug-2012 22:44:05

17-Sep-2012 04:23:37

23-Oct-2012 11:15:40

04-Feb-2013 14:20:30