# 23 — MY FAVORITE COMPOSITION
Lately, my car stereo has not been so cooperative with my phone via Bluetooth. All I want to do is listen to my classical music playlists on Spotify, but I am simply too tired to figure out how to diagnose the problem and fix it. So, of course, I dial in to KUSC 91.5. Earlier this week, a piece was playing on the radio, but the composer’s name and work’s title were not appearing on the infotainment (usually, they do). I couldn’t quite recognize the exact composition, but all I knew from listening was that the music was a piano concerto in the style of the Classical period, and it sounded pretty darn amazing. Eventually, I thought, “Surely, this music is by Mozart.” As soon as I parked at my destination, I looked up the KUSC playlist on my phone and, sure enough, I had indeed been listening to Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor, K. 491.
At this realization, I also remembered my general disdain towards the Austrian composer’s works and how I once found them so mind-numbing. Especially with piano repertoire, I used to prefer listening to and even playing works by his contemporaries such as Beethoven and Haydn. However, I also remembered that there has been one composition that has kept its status as my favorite of all time, despite my temporary obsessions with other composers here and there; despite my fascination with specific genres of Western art music; despite the fact that I am a pianist and not an orchestral musician; despite the fact that I have never really enjoyed Mozart’s music otherwise.
By far and away, my favorite piece of classical music has been and will always be Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K. 622. From a practical standpoint, I can always take solace in the fact that I will never have to practice nor perform it since I am certainly no clarinetist, but I suppose the extent at which I will have to “work” on this piece is if I am asked to accompany a soloist by playing the orchestral reduction as a collaborative pianist; basically, I can enjoy just listening to the Clarinet Concerto. The melody is song-like, the harmony is straightforward and tastefully sprinkled with appropriate dissonances, and the musical structure is properly symmetrical with square phrases of four or eight measures. I believe, more importantly, that the music is beautiful in its overall simplicity.
Would that trait be done justice with technical explanations full of music theory and terminology, with lots of confusing words and ideas? There is a reason why the “most popular” works of classical music are… well, popular. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,” Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, Chopin’s Nocturne in E-flat Major (Op. 9, No. 2), etc. All of these works can effortlessly resonate with all audiences, regardless of musical education, at a natural level that frankly requires no proper explanation. In fact, I would say that attempting to justify the listeners’ enjoyment would be doing a great disservice to that music.
Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto certainly belongs in the same place as those aforementioned masterpieces. However, it is unique in its resonance with me on a personal level. It is the piece that I heard over and over again in my high school wind ensemble class whenever our teacher tested my clarinetist friends’ proficiency as part of their final exams. The assigned excerpt would leave me begging to listen to the rest of it, with a full orchestra and a world-class clarinetist in the concert hall, which I have yet to do in my life. This Clarinet Concerto… this is my pen pal whom I have yet to meet in-person. For now, I keep in touch via occasional revisits to this wonderful recording featuring Sharon Kam and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. I hope you enjoy listening to this music as much I certainly do.