I first saw the movie when I was about 8 years old. 20 years later, the it still takes my breath away.

Amadeus has a special significance to me since I used to be a musician and Mozart's music doubles the enjoyment - if you know how to listen to it.

Unlike Bach or Brahms, and definitely unlike Schnittke or Schoenberg, Mozart is accessible to everyone. That said, you get more if you know more.

Classical music requires time and devotion. You can play Mozart in an elevator and chances are, most people will be pleased.

You can also drive to Vienna and go to Opera to watch Don Giovanni. I guarantee the pleasure will be quadrupled. The more you are willing to spend on the music, and we're talking time though money is a factor, too, the more you get back.

Which is not exactly the case of, say, Britney Spears. She is as good as they get, they being pop singers of all varieties. The songs are moving indeed, and yet there's nothing in them that doesn't meet the eye (or ears). The replayability isn't comparable to that of Mozart, and if you listen really hard, you get roughly the same experience as when playing it on the car stereo in noisy traffic.

We used to argue about it in pubs and beer gardens after concerts, wondering why more people wouldn't come. Some settled on the ages-old argument that people are, frankly, quite stupid. After all, who in the right mind would make Michael Jackson the King of Pop and a gazillionaire when there were so many who sang better, like Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.

Amadeus reminded me how foolish we were. Sure, it's a romantic portrayal of times that were anything but romantic, unless you lived in a palace. The facts are there, though. Classical music has become an elitist pastime long ago, which is why we call it 'classical' in the first place. Modern technology has brought it to everyone's fingertips, but it couldn't make it more popular because you still need to invest much energy and time to enjoy it.

Fortunately enough, music is no longer my occupation, so can enjoy it without worrying whether the audience is shrinking and how come the money is so bad. And do I have a great time? You bet! My collection of Bach cantatas is growing happily and by the time I've got them all, I can play the 1st one knowing there's still so much to discover there.