Never mind the myth, let Mozart's music do the talking

Not all of them are first-rate, but then Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart began composing at the age of five, by which time he was already more than competent on keyboard and violin. At 17 he was a court musician in Salzburg, but his restless spirit led him to travel in search of a better position and financial security. He wrote prolifically, day and night, learning from contemporaries along the way.

Haydn wrote that "posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years" and Mozart's millions of fans would probably argue that we have never seen such an important individual musical talent. His influence on subsequent Western music has been both incalculable and profound. BBC Radio 3 executives have taken the radical decision to broadcast a diet of Mozart only, 24 hours a day for the first 12 days of January. By devoting its entire schedule to the composer, every note he wrote will be played, with some pieces repeated in versions by different soloists and orchestras and led by some of the world's greatest conductors.

Highlights will include documentaries, as well as Sir Peter Hall's 1983 radio production of Peter Schaffer's play Amadeus (later made into the film) starring Paul Scofield, Simon Callow and Felicity Kendal.

"We previously did seasons devoted to Beethoven and Bach, and they went down very well both with audiences and critics," says Paul Frankl, who's from Bradford and is executive producer of the season.

"Something unexpected can come out of these things. People might think 'Oh God, is it all going to sound the same?' but there's incredible variety within the composer's work, and you are given the sense of the artistic journey they made. After the Bach season, people contacted us saying things like they've found it almost a religious experience. While Radio 3 is usually the BBC station with the widest selection of different kinds of music, from classical to jazz, world music and classical contemporary, giving over a period of time to one important composer can be a very welcome change, with listeners knowing what they're going to get." Frankl's first thought was to plan the 12 days as a chronological explanation of Mozart's life and work, but he quickly changed his mind.

"The fact is that the best of his music came later, and we didn't want to keep people waiting for the highlights of his more sensational pieces. He died at 35, but that short life encompasses a huge story, so we decided to work with themes: a day of general celebration, then days devoted to piano works, his time in Salzburg, Vienna, opera and so on, and a special focus on the day he died.

"But each day will still involve a scattering of the highlight works in different versions, and experts in various aspects of Mozart in conversation. We'll be paying homage to the realities of an extraordinary man and his music, but also to the mythology around him."

Frankl says many people's perception of Mozart is based on the film Amadeus, but the film includes many factual inaccuracies, "although it brilliantly conjures up the fizzing nature of the man and the human feelings behind his behaviour.

"Calling him a genius is very easy and it would be glib, if we weren't looking closely at the evidence and at the development of his talent. Even though the greatest works came later, and there are an overwhelming number of stunning compositions from the last 12 years of his life, some of his teenage pieces were exceptional, too. Through them you can see clearly how amazing he was to become."

Frankl says producers have worked hard also to show the normal side of Mozart. "He was flesh and blood, and loved to play skittles, visit the pub and dance." And if, in the parlance of Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, the waves were to threaten the entire Mozart archive with destruction, which piece of Mozart would he rush to save?

"It would have to be the Jupiter Symphony (symphony no.41). The final movement is one of the pinnacles of all music. It's such a dizzying, joyous, unbuttoned celebration in sound. It's utterly life-enhancing and can leave you on a high for hours after listening to it... But hopefully I won't ever have to make that choice".