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hmmm...while I would certainly agree that it is more a matter of taste than any hard musical arguments that kept the two flashiest piano virtuosi in history off my list (although much of Liszt's piano music is little more than "gaudy ephemera" to quote musicolist Jim Svejda), I REALLY think you are selling Mozart short. Sure, you could replace a Tchaikovsky with a Chopin or a Wagner with a Liszt, but let me take a few moments to defend Mozart's top 3 billing: 1)He is simply the most PROLIFIC composer of all time. That being said, he started writing when he was 5, and even many of his works that remain in today's popular repetoire; such as the violin concerti, the early symphonies, and some chamber music, were written when he was EXTREMELY young...say, mid to late teens. Thus, many of these pieces have a tendency to sound light, insubstantial, and formulaic...but how can we expect TRULY mature musical compositions from someone who is not yet himself a MATURE human being. 2)Mozart's musical signature is undeniable, to be sure. Thus, you maybe be able to walk into a room and hear something you've never heard before and declare it to be Mozart's...but I would argue that such a thing can easily be said about Bach and Beethoven (at least heroic-era Beethoven), not to mention Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Liszt, Chopin....every composer has a distinct musical "sound," and while Mozart's may be clearer than most, this is more due to orchestration practices of the time, something rather superficial....when we hear a symphony or a concerto written in the classical form with classical orchestration, what well-known composer could it possibly be...Haydn maybe? Sure. Early Beethoven? But odds are it will be Mozart, if for no other reason than that he wrote so damn much! 3) Enough defending Mozart's faults...time to flaunt his greatness. Never in the history of music has there been such a deep well-spring of melodic inventiveness...and never in the history of music has melodic content been manipulated with such ease as in the works of the mature mozart. The late piano concerti are absolute MIRACLES thematic development and redevelopment...if Haydn set the standard for the Symphony and the Quartet, then Mozart set the standard for the piano concerto...and unlike Haydn, this standard has never been surpassed....Not by Beethoven, not by Brahms, not by Chopin, Mendelssohn, or Schumann...certainly not by Saint -Saens or Rachmaninov (Shlockmaninov)...nor by Grieg, Martinu, Prokofiev or any other human being who has ever written a piano concerto. Simply put, Mozart takes themes and twist them, turns them, flips them, stretches them, shrinks them, bounces them from key to key, from tempo to tempo...bascially does whatever he can to them...and these are things that are almost impossible to hear, yet they are there, testament to his greatness. 2)The mature operas - The Marraige of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cosi Fan Tutti, and yes, the Magic Flute...these are the greatest operas ever written. How you can knock the Magic Flute is beyond me! It's a work of sublime beauty, despite its comic trappings. Don Giovanni I need not talk about, save to say that it is widely conisdered the greatest opera ever written...yet all of these late masterworks are treasures of melody, harmony, and drama...sublime, rich, exciting, and gorgeous. There are no words I can use to defend them, all I can say is go listen to them once more. 3)The late symphonies...listen to the last movement of Symphony #40 and tell me that Mozart did not have 100 percent mastery of counterpoint.
That's a little bit on Mozart.
As for Wagner...well, I guess he's an acquired taste. Did you know he was Liszt's Son in Law? An interesting bit of trivia.
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