Running with Mozart
August 17, 1999
While on vacation during August (1997) I was out for a run one day. It was a lazy three mile jog and the heat and
humidity were not so pleasant. I
was carrying my Sony SRF-M70 FM/AM Walkman Sports radio. Normally
reception in the mountains where I run on vacation is not so good
but I happened to stumble into a NPR station that was playing classical music (my favorite). The recording that was being broadcast was something
I had never heard before. It was a delightful flute sonata. Although
I had never heard it before I could tell it was by Mozart. It was unmistakable as is most of his great work. As I was running
along the hilly country terrain in quite a sweat I was thinking
about how it is that Mozart is such a popular composer. (read more)
I don't know all the numbers but I believe
that the works of Mozart are the most popular of all music.
Maybe Andrew Lloyd Webber or Garth Brooks will surpass him but they
have a long way to go if they do. Mozart has been performing since
not too long after his birth in 1756! I was pondering why he has
lasted so long. I think the answer is not only in his own brilliant
compositions but also in the fact that his works have attracted
the great performers of the world to play them. When great soloists
like Itzak Perlman, Pinkus Zukerman, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Vladamir
Horowitz and countless others want to play his music and when great
conductors like Neville Marriner and so many others want to conduct
his music it begins to be clear why Mozart's music lives on. Personally
I find his music to be one of the most enjoyable parts of my life.
Note: Hal
Higdon :On the Run had an interesting story called Mozart
and the Marathon: Running to the Beat.