Mozart's latter symphonies

I listened to the final six symphonies on vinyl, excluding bastard 37 (so it was 35-41, Haffner-Jupiter), at least twice apiece.

The first few got better and better, but the lot may have peaked at "Prague". This is extremely subjective though. My taste in classical music barely correlates with critical reception. For example, the only theme I recognized from pop culture across all six was the beginning of 40, a theme which I distinctly disliked. Bach is an even better example of my taste's volatility, as I might love one prelude of the WTC and scorn its neighbor fugue, or vice versa. The worst offender is this style of minor mode that I really don't like: the beginning of Mozart's 40 embodies it, while somehow Bach's "Den Tod niemand zwingen kunnt" evades it on the way to becoming one of my favorite classical themes. It's so finicky. Most angry minor music offends my taste, while I don't mind softly sad minor. "Den Tod niemand zwingen kunnt" has a ferocity, but it's ultimately a sacred sadness.

"Prague" stood out for its challenging chords that are ultimately rooted in the major, not the chipper major, but the serious major. "Haffner" was the chipper major, and thus that transition through the first three from chipper to serious. The next three weren't a coherent arc to me. Maybe I'd get more if I listened to them again, and listened more intently (I wasn't super attentive for any of these), but I feel like my instincts toward Mozart symphonies are pretty clear now, so I don't feel the need to develop them further.

I'd like to develop my general Mozart instincts further though: the Requiem, Don Giovanni, and all the many miscellany. However, I'm going to call out that Bach clearly surges well ahead of Mozart in my esteem, and Bach worked in almost every category, so there's a lifetime of Bach that may deserve my attention more than most of Mozart. I even wonder if Beethoven and others will pass Mozart, considering Mozart feels a little too sanitized. Too many big bright bounces between the I and the V (or the i and the V), too many cheesy sing-songy melodies, too many modulation cliches. Of course Bach contains an almost unlimited amount of these things, but he passes by them instantly, while Mozart hinges on them. Bach throws in a cheesy theme, but the next moment he's somewhere else entirely; Mozart makes it the whole motif. Bach is constantly, chaotically churning, like the sun; Mozart is incessantly bright, like the sunshine.

I don't mind these symphonies for some easy listening, some light class on a situation. But they don't get me going.