January
February 2025
The fifth year of our collaboration with Artistic Partner Mitsuko Uchida brings us from Luxembourg to London. This time, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 18 and No. 21 frame two different pieces for our six-concert tour.
For the concerts in Dortmund, Hamburg, Vienna, and London, the program will include the two Mozart pieces, separated by Leoš Janáček's wind sextet, Mládí ("Youth"). Composed during a reflective period in Janáček’s life, this wind sextet is a recollection of his youth, infused with astute humor and a classical form. Written during a stay in his birthplace of Hukvaldy, Janáček uses fresh expressions and a quote from his earlier work, March of the Blue Boys, to evoke the spirit of his younger days. The addition of a bass clarinet to the traditional wind quintet lends the piece a unique, rich texture.
For the concerts in Luxembourg and Salzburg, the centerpiece is George Frideric Handel's Concerto Grosso op. 3 No. 2 of which the opening movement bears a close relationship to Handel's Brockes Passion of 1716. Two dance movements, a minuet, and a gavotte complete the concerto. In the Largo, the oboe's expressive cantilena is gently accompanied by the broken-chord accompaniment of two concertante cellos.
Often overshadowed by his more famous B-flat concerto (Piano Concerto No. 27), Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 18 leans towards the entertaining rather than the expressive, offering glimpses of the deeper poignance that would characterize his later works.
The concert concludes with Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21, K. 467, a work of depth and beauty. Known for its large melodic leaps and underlying restlessness, this concerto’s middle movement is particularly renowned for its expressive poignancy.
Starting in the Luxembourg Philharmonie, this tour takes us to Konzerthaus Dortmund, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Vienna’s Musikverein, Salzburg Mozarteum, and finally, the London Southbank Centre. Our performance in Vienna is the first in this Mozart cycle with Mitsuko Uchida.
