In his relatively short life – he died at the age of 35 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed over 600 works. A child prodigy, Mozart began composing at a very young age, and his symphonies, concertos, choral and operatic works are considered some of the greatest in history.

But although his genius is unquestionable, for the unfamiliar, Mozart’s formidable reputation and the scale of his output can be off-putting.

What would happen if you tried to listen to everything he ever wrote? That’s exactly what music journalist Alex Marshall – a Mozart novice – challenged himself to do, to discover what all the fuss was about. He took delivery of 200 CDs of Mozart’s music and set about his mammoth task.

What does constant listening of anything – let alone 200 CDs – do to a person? And would his immersion in Mozart make Alex smarter, more relaxed – or drive him mad? BBC Culture followed him on his quest to discover the truth about Mozart.

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