When we started planning it, I did think of it already as being this kind of universal resource that someone who's really interested in late 18th-century music, or Mozart in particular, or music education, would find worthwhile. You get the whole history of Mozart performance and Mozart's compositional activity, including all kinds of things that have never been recorded before. I would hope that institutions would buy it, whether they're libraries or academic institutions. I think that anyone who's really serious about their Mozart ought to buy it because it's actually a real bargain. Who's going to buy this huge set? Who is it aimed at? Then the really tricky stuff that Mozart does simply sounds more clear. It's not the deep structures that are communicating to us.

And I hear it that way because of my firm belief that a tremendous amount of what's being communicated is actually on the surface of the music. If you listen to just the opening of the E-flat symphony or the Prague symphony, these pieces seem to open a window on a kind of infinity.Дoes it make Mozart sound like a more daring, innovative composer now that we have a couple decades of historic performance practice behind us? And so traditional orchestras have found ways to make individual groups of instruments, like woodwinds, sound different. I think there was a realization that all of the instruments shouldn't blend so homogeneously the way they do in traditional orchestras. But as time went on and as people mastered period instruments, it was realized that this music could be much more expressive. The early days of period instrument performances, I think most people now find those a bit dry and under-expressive, just because the idea was we would stick to exactly what's on the page. And that's reflected in the set by our inclusion of both period instrument and traditional instrument performances. So we're already in a kind of post-period instrument, hybrid way of listening. They're taking over some of the results of historical performance practice research, like tempos, articulation and just the general sound being lighter and cleaner.

Not only has the period instrument movement become the norm for the performance of the late 18th and early 19th-century music, but also, traditional orchestras have moved more in the direction of period instrument orchestras. The period instrument movement - performing the music on instruments of the composer's time - seems to have changed our understanding of Mozart's music. The other thing: People's listening habits and preferences have changed remarkably in the last 25 years. We've included a lot more music, including unfinished pieces by Mozart, some sketches and a number of early pieces that have never been released on commercial recordings before. I suppose the obvious question, is why do we need a new one?Д¬liff Eisen: There are a number of differences between our box set and 1991 Philips set. Tom Huizenga: We've already had a giant Mozart box set 25 years ago on the Philips label. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. 'The ebb and flow of the feelings and expressions,' he says, 'are so intense and concentrated and, at the same time, so honest about our day-to-day lives that the music is something that you can project yourself into.' The new Mozart set includes 240 hours of music, two hardcover books and more.Д«eyond Mozart's beautiful combinations of sounds, Eisen says he finds the music remarkably expressive.

Mozart 225 disc set