Mozart and Mendelssohn

Polish violinist Maria Włoszczowska directs the Royal Northern Sinfonia in a programme of musical innovations and provocations. Grażyna Bacewicz turns an 18th-century entertainment into a witty, piquant and often densely beautiful miniature. The 14-year-old Mendelssohn had no model for his unusual Concerto for Violin, Piano and Strings but combined his two soloists with ingenious and eloquent results. At the other end of his career, Mozart took the symphony to new heights in his final three efforts in the genre, beginning with the vivacious Symphony No. 39, whose brilliance veers on the cusp of darkness.