Michael Sanderling conducts Mozart and Mahler

Of Mozart’s 27 piano concertos, only two are in a minor key. For that reason alone they are outstanding, but even more so for their artistic perfection. The D minor concerto is perhaps his most imortant piano concerto, and certainly his most personal. Never before was the opening of a piano concerto so passionate, wild and rebellious. Thanks to itseminent intensity of expression, which already looks ahead to the Romantic period, the work soon became a favourite in the 19th century.

Mahler’s Fourth Symphony takes us to a lighter world – a last look back at the idyllic world of Romanticism that is once again evoked here. A longing for innocence and childlike naivety is echoed in this peerless music, and the final movement with its calm ending suggests an ascension to heaven.“We enjoy heavenly pleasures and therefore avoid earthly ones,” sings the soprano soloist, leading into a childlike praise of St. Cecilia, the patron saint of musicians and music. This concert of angels, incomparable to any earthly music, quietly ends the symphony, in sublime detachment from all “worldly tumult”.