To obtain some measure of the quality of Mozart’s work, I turned to
Schwann’sRecord and Tape Guide. I reasoned that an excellent work is likely to
be recorded more often than a poor one. The decision to record a work pre-
sumably reflects both musical judgment and popular taste—that is, it reflects
the musical judgment by a conductor that the work is worthwhile and the be-
liefofthe record companiesthatthe record will sell.
Figure 23.2 shows the number of recordings listed in Schwann’s guide (Au-
gust,1979)ofworkswrittenineachyearofMozart’scareer.Althoughabout
12%ofMozart’sworkswerewritteninthefirst10yearsofhiscareer,only4.8%
of the recordings came from this early period. Further, many of the recordings
of early works are included in collections with labels such as, ‘‘The Complete
Figure23.2
Number of recordings listed inSchwann’s Guide(August, 1979) of works written in each year of
Mozart’scareer.
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