Mozart magic

MUSIC maestro Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart received a fitting present on the occasion of his 250th birthday, by being voted as Britain’s favourite composer.

Listeners of Classic FM cast a total of 119,000 votes by post and online as a part of its annual Classic FM Hall of Fame poll.

When poll results were tallied, it was found that Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, made familiar to people as part of the soundtrack of the movie Out of Africa, had managed to topple Sergei Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No 2’s five-year reign of the No.1 slot.

And, as further proof of his popularity, Mozart, with 24 entries in the top 300, featured most often in the favourites list, beating his nearest rival Beethoven by three compositions.

Darren Henley, Classic FM’s station manager, said that the surge in Mozart’s popularity was partly due to his 250th birthday celebrations, and added that it was ‘great’ that he had once again been able to grab people’s attention. "People have gone a bit Mozart crazy this year, which is great.

His Clarinet Concerto first became familiar to film audiences as part of the soaring soundtrack for Out of Africa. It just seems to have really grabbed people’s attention again," the Scotsman quoted him, as saying.

— ANI

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