My favorite composer, I have read every book written about him and, by the second year of graduate school, had memorized many of his works, right down to the Köchel number. Today, I listen to Piano Concerto No. 26 in D Major, K. 537 as performed by Wanda Landowska. It is by no means one of Mozart’s best works, but I feel only Ms. Landowska could play Mozart’s compositions as he himself would have. She owned those notes with playfulness and took them out of formation in clever, heartful cadenzas, unlike the dour, reverential, “so lofty, they sound as if they shit marble” moods assumed by other pianists.
Wonder who Mozart would be today and in the future? Read Mozart in Mirrorshades by Bruce Sterling and Lewis Shiner in Mirroshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology. Whomever stole this book from my library is hereby authorized simply to mail a copy back to me anonymously or place it on my doorstep. a) I promise not to beat you. b) You know who you are.
