Work: Piano Concerto no. 19 in F major, K459

It must be a strange feeling, sitting down to play a short work while surrounded by empty chairs waiting for a big second half symphony. Tonight Steven Osborne and the modest proportions of Mozart’s orchestra were given the task of invigorating the Piano Concerto no. 19 and avoiding an almost inevitable feeling of it being a pre-Mahler apéritif.

Several years ago I attended a glorious Baltimore Symphony Orchestra concert under the baton of a celebrity conductor. A less experienced listener at the time, I was shocked to watch him leading the orchestra in a Rossini overture with his arms folded behind his back.

Qu'on le veuille ou non, jouer le requiem de Mozart est devenu un acte politique. Instruments anciens ou instruments modernes ? Faut-il opter pour Süssmayr – un choix manifestement sûr – ou tenter, au risque de se faire huer des extrémistes, Robbins Landon, voire la version de Rio ? La réponse de Bertrand de Billy dans cet article.