Tag Archives: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

In concert – Hugh Cutting, Irish Baroque Orchestra / Peter Whelan @ Wigmore Hall

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Hugh Cutting (countertenor), Irish Baroque Orchestra (Peter Whelan, director)

Programme including pieces by Mozart, Gluck, Johann Christian Bach, Johann Christian Fischer, Tommaso Giordani and Thomas Arne. Full repertoire list at the bottom of this review

Wigmore Hall, London, 9 March 2026

by John Earls. Photo credits John Earls

Giusto Ferdinando Tenducci (c. 1735-90) may not be a name on many people’s lips but he was something of a superstar in his day (his portrait was painted by Gainsborough twice). The Siena-born soprano castrato (who were the pop stars of their time) was not just a successful singer but his celebrity also featured a colourful life that included spells in a debtors’ prison and a scandal involving him marrying his teenage singing pupil Dorothea (Dora) Maunsell – the couple met in Dublin in Ireland but eloped to Cork, where he was also jailed for a time (the marriage was later annulled).

This concert explored the world and music of Tenducci and his time in Ireland (he spent the early part of his career touring Italian and German cities and came to prominence in London and Ireland in the late 1750s and early 1760s). The Irish Baroque Orchestra released the album The Trials of Tenducci: A Castrato in Ireland (Linn Records) in 2021 and a number of its pieces featured tonight, although there were some compositions too. On the album the singer is Irish mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught. Tonight’s singer was British countertenor Hugh Cutting, a BBC New Generation Artist (2022–24) and the first countertenor to win the Kathleen Ferrier Award. Cutting impressed me as Arsace in English National Opera’s recent surrealist production of Handel’s Partenope, and he made a very strong impact in this performance.

In a nice scene setter, the concert began with Mozart’s Symphony no. 1 which the composer wrote when he was just eight years old, about the time when Tenducci met him in England in 1764. The first set also included two arias from Mozart’s third opera Mitridate: re di Ponto: Già dagli occhi and Venga pur Minacci (which closed the first half) seeing Cutting give rein to his strong stage presence and in the latter, an, at times, literally pointed delivery.

The rest of the first set featured Thomas Arne’s Vengeance, O come inspire me! from Alfred (a forceful opener from Cutting with lively, bright accompaniment from the orchestra) and Water parted from the sea from Artaxerxes (which ran for some 33 performances in Dublin in 1765-66), delivered with clarity by Cutting (not so much the audience member who coughed loudly at the end).

Another first set highlight was the orchestra’s performance of Johann Christian Fischer’s Gramachree Molly with variations from the Oboe Concerto No. 7 which spotlighted some gorgeously expressive and fluent oboe playing by Emma Black.

The young Mozart’s Symphony no. 4 opened the second half followed by three pieces from Gluck’s opera Orfeo ed Euridice. Here the orchestra was in full command for Dance of the Furies with the two horn players holding their instrument’s bells upright for maximum impact. Cutting’s singing on Ahimè! dove trascorsi! and Che farò senza Euridice? was clear and passionate.

There then followed a piece where the orchestra absolutely shined. Tommaso Giordani’s The Celebrated Overture and Irish Medley to The Island of Saints saw Emma Black working oboe magic again, beautifully accompanied by plucked strings, for Shepherds I Have Lost My Love. The Irish Medley was given a joyous performance of its selection of Irish folk melodies featuring some fantastic fiddle playing. It was rewarded with rapturous applause – a perfect early Saint Patrick’s Day celebration. There was more Giordani of a different sort next with Caro mio ben, with Cutting’s vocals hanging confidently and elegantly.

Johann Christian Bach’s Vo solcando un mar crudele from Artaserse W.G 1 was a crisp, rousing finale giving full expression to Cutting’s virtuosity. A repeat of Caro mio ben served as an encore and was even more glorious than the first time round.

This was a mesmerising evening with a wonderful programme that highlighted that baroque music in Ireland goes further than the celebrated premiere of Handel’s Messiah in Dublin in 1742. Hugh Cutting and the Irish Baroque Orchestra are an outstanding combination. I hope there is more to come.

Hugh Cutting and the Irish Baroque Orchestra performed the following repertoire:

Mozart Symphony No. 1 in E flat major K16
Arne Vengeance, O come inspire me! from Alfred
Mozart Già dagli occhi from Mitridate, re di Ponto
Johann Christian Fischer Gramachree Molly with variations from Oboe Concerto No. 7
Arne Water parted from the sea from Artaxerxes
Mozart Venga pur Minacci from Mitridate, re di Ponto; Symphony No. 4 in D major K19
Gluck Dance of the Furies; Ahimè! dove trascorsi!; Che farò senza Euridice? from Orfeo ed Euridice
Giordani The Celebrated Overture and Irish Medley to The Island of Saints; Caro mio ben;
Johann Christian Bach Vo solcando un mar crudele from Artaserse W.G 1

John Earls is Director of Research at Unite the Union and posts at @johnearls.bsky.social on Bluesky and @john_earls on X. You can subscribe (free) to his Hanging Out a Window Substack column here: https://johnearls.substack.com/

Published post no.2,825 – Tuesday 10 March 2026

In Concert – Marianne Crebassa, The Mozartists / Ian Page @ Wigmore Hall: Mozart & Haydn

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Marianna Crebassa (mezzo-soprano), The Mozartists / Ian Page

Mozart Lucio Silla K135 (1772): Dunque sperar poss’io…Il tenero momento
Haydn Symphony no.34 in D minor Hob.I:34 (1765)
Mozart Idomeneo K366 (1781): Ah! qual gelido orror; La clemenza di Tito K621 (1791): Parto, parto; Lucio Silla K135: Ah! se morir mi chiama; Le nozze di Figaro K492 (1786): Voi che sapete che cosa e amor
Haydn Symphony no.26 in D minor ‘Lamentatione’ (1768)
Mozart La clemenza di Tito K621: Deh, per questo istante solo

Wigmore Hall, London
Thursday 26 February

Reviewed by Ben Hogwood Photo (c) The Mozartists

It was a matter of time before Marianne Crebassa and Ian Page appeared together on the same stage. Indeed, as Page confided in the pre-concert talk, the French mezzo-soprano was top of his ‘wanted’ list for performing with his band, The Mozartists. With dates aligned, the pair constructed a typically stimulating programme.

Page’s eye for historical and orchestral detail proved the ideal foil for Crebassa’s characterisation of four operatic characters from early, middle and late in Mozart’s career, with each role written for castrato singers. Supporting these operatic excerpts were two symphonic examples from Haydn’s ‘Sturm und Drang’ period.

Diving straight in at the deep end, Crebassa embraced the many twists and turns of the 10-minute epic Dunque sperar poss’io…Il tenero momento, from Mozart’s teenage opera Lucio Silla. Her lower range notes were sumptuously delivered with impeccable poise, while Crebassa’s upper range was thrilling in the exposed virtuoso passages, delivered with a flash of the eye and a smile.

‘Enjoyment’ was a key word for this concert, as players, conductor and singer alike shared musical asides with obvious pleasure – not always the case in the concert hall! Some of the biggest smiles were reserved for Crebassa’s coy account of Voi che sapete, from Le Nozze di Figaro, subtle but winsome. Meanwhile the tragic Ah! qual gelido orror, from Idomeneo, had the appropriate gravitas and a weighty orchestral tone to match. A second aria from Lucio Silla, Ah! se morir mi chiama, was given with exceptional voice control and attention to detail from Page, including tasteful harpsichord continuo from Steven Devine.

Crebassa also triumphed in two arias from Mozart’s final opera La clemenza di Tito, hailed by Page as a long-underrated masterpiece. In Parto, parto her accomplice was basset clarinettist Emily Worthington, taking the part of Mozart’s friend (and Clarinet Quintet dedicatee) Anton Stadler. Player and singer engaged in a compelling sequence of musical cat and mouse, Worthington projecting well from the back of the stage. Meanwhile Deh, per questo istante solo found Crebassa drawing the audience in with its dynamic contrasts, high on drama. As a considerable bonus she gave a serene account of Qui d’amor from Handel’s Ariodante as an encore.

Complementing the Mozart selection were two examples of Haydn’s invention from early on in his tenure as Director of Music at Esterházy. Both D minor works share a weighty tone, and the earlier work, Symphony no.34, began with a heavy heart. The sparse tone of the orchestra was a stark contrast to the Mozart, only briefly relenting as the first movement developed its ideas. Even when D major appeared as the key of the resulting Allegro the music still bristled with anxiety, expressed through the violin tremolos. The Minuet and Trio – with lovely tone from oboists James Eastaway and Rachel Chaplin – eased the strain with brighter tones, as did the finale, in spite of its brief minor key recollections.

One of few Haydn symphonies to receive a nickname from the composer himself, Symphony no.26, the ‘Lamentatione’, took us to church in an interpretation reaching profound emotional depths. Page and the Mozartists moved from the brio of the lean first movement to rapt concentration in the second, where the music has a similar gait to the chorale of J.S. Bach’s famous cantata Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme. Page gave the phrasing appropriate room for contemplation. Haydn’s wit and invention made a welcome reappearance beneath the surface tension of the Minuet and was expressly felt in the syncopated trio, where oboes and horns excelled.

This was a memorable evening of music making, captured by microphones – presumably for broadcast on BBC Radio 3 or recording. Either way, a memento is well worth seeking out!

You can listen to the music from this concert in a Tidal playlist, including some of Marianne Crebassa’s own Mozart recordings made for the Erato label.

Published post no.2,811 – Friday 27 February 2026

In concert – Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra / Franz Welser-Möst @ BBC Proms: Mozart & Tchaikovsky

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Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra / Franz Welser-Möst (above)

Mozart Symphony no.38 in D major K504 ‘Prague’ (1786)
Tchaikovsky Symphony no.6 in B minor Op.74 ‘Pathétique’ (1893)

Royal Albert Hall, London
Tuesday 9 September 2025

Reviewed by Ben Hogwood Photos (c) BBC / Chris Christodoulou

The music of Mozart is the lifeblood of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, so to describe their performance of the composer’s Prague symphony as routine is to say that everything was present and completely idiomatic.

Completed in Vienna, the Prague deserves to be mentioned with the last three symphonies as among Mozart’s greatest. In the hands of guest conductor Franz Welser-Möst, its phrases were stylishly turned, violins silky-smooth but keeping clear of full fat over-indulgence. This performance drew the audience in, with a chamber orchestra sound that acquired more beef when needed in the first movement, which had appropriate drama, or the boisterous passages of the finale. The woodwind were superb throughout.

Most intriguing was the Andante, a thoughtful repose whose chromatic melodies were lovingly shaped, while the central section was notable for its autumnal frissons whenever the music headed for a minor key. Meanwhile the faster music was imbued with the spirit of the dance, a performance carefully considered but let off the leash when appropriate.

Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique symphony took a while to get going, revealing the composer’s own Mozartian influence in the process. Initially the first movement felt underpowered, its sense of dread kept to a minimum and the second theme kept within itself – though that did mean a particularly beautiful clarinet solo from Matthias Schorn. This turned out to be an effective interpretative ploy on the part of Welser-Möst, for the impact of the stormy section was heightened, the orchestra suddenly playing hell for leather.

The 5/4 metre of the second movement was persuasively realised, the lilt of its dance compromised by unexpected syncopations, alternating between charming and disturbing. By this point the Proms audience notably rapt in their attention, and still between movements.

The scherzo felt Viennese yet acquired a manic need to please more in keeping with Mahler – not encouraged as much by Welser-Möst as previous Vienna Philharmonic incumbents (Herbert von Karajan, for example) but effective, nonetheless. It all set up the devastating pathos of the finale, taken relatively smooth and never lingering, but still uncommonly moving. Double basses were appropriately knotty, while the effect of the stopped horns, playing low and loud, was genuinely chilling. The fabled gong stroke, on the light side, was still a telling moment in the hall, as was the silence following the last note, Welser-Möst giving us over a minute to consider the masterpiece we had just heard. After that, there could be no encore.

Franz Welser-Möst is a subtle conductor who over the years has developed a close relationship with his charges in Cleveland and Vienna particularly. His poised approach brings optimum virtuosity and watertight ensemble, to which can be added artistic approaches with a great deal to commend them. In this case both Mozart and Tchaikovsky were the beneficiaries.

You can listen back to this Prom concert on BBC Sounds until Sunday 12 October.

Click to read more about the BBC Proms

Published post no.2,653 – Wednesday 10 September 2025

In concert – Anne Queffélec @ Wigmore Hall: Mozart and a French ‘musical garden’

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Anne Queffélec (piano)

Mozart Piano Sonata no.13 in B flat major K333 (1783-4)
Debussy Images Set 1: Reflets dans l’eau (1901-5); Suite Bergamasque: Clair de lune (c1890, rev. 1905)
Dupont Les heures dolentes: Après-midi de Dimanche (1905)
Hahn Le Rossignol éperdu: Hivernale; Le banc songeur (1902-10)
Koechlin Paysages et marines Op.63: Chant de pêcheurs (1915-6)
Schmitt Musiques intimes Book 2 Op.29: Glas (1889-1904)

Wigmore Hall, London
Monday 28 April 2025 (1pm)

by Ben Hogwood picture of Anne Queffélec (c) Jean-Baptiste Millot

The celebrated French pianist Anne Queffélec is elegantly moving through her eighth decade, and her musical inspiration is as fresh as ever. The temptation for this recital may have been to play anniversary composer Ravel, but instead she chose to look beneath the surface, emerging with a captivating sequence of lesser-known French piano gems from the Belle Époque, successfully debuted on CD in 2013 and described by the pianist herself as “a walk in the musical garden à la Française.”

Before the guided tour, we had Mozart at this most inquisitive and chromatic. The Piano Sonata no.13 in B flat major, K.333, was written in transit between Salzburg and Vienna, and the restlessness of travel runs through its syncopation and wandering melodic lines. Queffélec phrased these stylishly, giving a little more emphasis to the left hand in order to bring out Mozart’s imaginative counterpoint. She enjoyed the ornamental flourishes of the first movement, the singing right hand following Mozart’s Andante cantabile marking for the second movement, and the attractive earworm theme of the finale, developed in virtuosic keystrokes while making perfect sense formally.

The sequence of French piano music began with two of Debussy’s best known evocations. An expansive take on the first of Debussy’s Images Book 1, Reflets dans l’eau led directly into an enchanting account Clair de Lune, magically held in suspense and not played too loud at its climactic point, heightening the emotional impact.

The move to the music of the seldom heard and short lived Gabriel Dupont was surprisingly smooth, his evocative Après-midi de Dimanche given as a reverie punctuated by more urgent bells. Hahn’s Hivernale was a mysterious counterpart, its modal tune evoking memories long past that looked far beyond the hall. Le banc songeur floated softly, its watery profile evident in the outwardly rippling piano lines. The music of Charles Koechlin is all too rarely heard these days, yet the brief Le Chant des Pêcheur left a mark, its folksy melody remarkably similar to that heard in the second (Fêtes) of Debussy’s orchestral Nocturnes.

Yet the most striking of these piano pieces was left until last, Florent Schmitt’s Glas including unusual and rather haunting overtones to the ringing of the bells in the right hand. Queffélec’s playing was descriptive and exquisitely balanced in the quieter passages, so much so that the largely restless Wigmore Hall audience was rapt, fully in the moment. Even the persistent hammering of the neighbouring builders, a threat to concert halls London-wide, at last fell silent.

Queffélec had an encore to add to her expertly curated playlist, a French dance by way of Germany and England. Handel’s Minuet in G minor, arranged by Wilhelm Kempff, was appropriately bittersweet and played with rare beauty, completing a memorable hour of music from one of the finest pianists alive today.

Listen

You can listen to this concert as the first hour of BBC Radio 3’s Classical Live, which can be found on BBC Sounds. The Spotify playlist below has collected Anne Queffélec’s available recordings of the repertoire played:

Published post no.2,517 – Tuesday 29 April 2025

In concert – Mao Fujita, Philharmonia Orchestra / Osmo Vänskä: Missy Mazoli, Mozart & Mendelssohn

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Mao Fujita (piano), Philharmonia Orchestra / Osmo Vänskä

Missy Mazzoli These Worlds In Us (2006)
Mozart Piano Concerto no.25 in C major K503 (1786)
Mendelssohn Symphony no.5 in D minor Op.107, ‘Reformation’ (1830)

Royal Festival Hall, London
Thursday 20 March 2025

Reviewed by Ben Hogwood Picture (c) Marc Gascoigne

Japanese pianist Mao Fujita has shown his impressive Mozart credentials in highly praised recordings of the composer’s complete piano sonatas. More recently his focus has shifted to the piano concertos.

Here he was partnered by the Philharmonia Orchestra and the visiting Osmo Vänskä in the substantial Piano Concerto no.25 in C major K503, a ceremonial work with fulsome orchestral accompaniment. Yet less is often more in Mozart performance, and that was certainly the case with Fujita as his fingers spun a magical web of notes. The piano’s magical first entry, after the pomp and circumstance of the introduction, was notable for its lightness of touch, Fujita listening closely to the Philharmonia wind players.

With so much to enjoy in this performance, Fujita exuded technical brilliance but also commendable restraint, always with affectionate shaping of the melodic line. That is, until the unattributed first movement cadenza. Here the rulebook was torn asunder, and a flow of unpredictable counterpoint broke loose, revealing links back to Bach but notably forward towards Beethoven.

Back under control, Fujita made the piano sing in the operatic slow movement, aided again by the quality of the wind section under Vänskä, who secured typically detailed, transparent clarity. The first violins began the finale with their touch as light as a feather, after which Fujita put the pedal to the metal once again, taking great pleasure in Mozart’s sparky dialogue with the orchestra. His encore, the first movement of Mozart’s Piano Sonata in C major K545, featured a delightful ‘wrong’ chord near the end, affectionately given and rounding off a truly memorable performance.

Prior to this we heard Missy Mazzoli’s These Worlds In Us, dedicated to her father, who was a soldier in the Vietnam War. Her imaginative orchestration extended to the use of wheezy melodicas in the outer section, adding a dreaminess and heightening the link with the music of Bali. The sighing violin theme was profound, but most telling of all was the soft rat-a-tat of the snare drum, a quiet but ominous reminder of war amidst the otherwise bright scoring. Mazzoli’s music has deeply human qualities that came alive in this performance.

For the second half, Vänskä led a dramatic account of Mendelssohn’s Symphony no.5, the Reformation. Second in order of composition, it was the last of his symphonies to be properly published, on account of its troublesome reception in 1832. In more recent years however the work has enjoyed greater exposure, rewarding its portrayal of triumph in turbulent times.

The magical hush from the strings of the Dresden Amen, quoted by the composer in the first movement, drew the audience in before Vänskä powered through a turbulent Allegro. The second movement danced like a late Haydn minuet, brisk and with a charming trio, while the Andante looked inwards, initially beyond comfort but ultimately softening to the touch. Mendelssohn’s quotation of the Lutheran chorale Ein feste Burg came to the rescue, sweetly intoned by flautist Samuel Coles, before the orchestra enjoyed Mendelssohn’s exuberant finale, and its parallels to Handel’s Messiah. As is his wont, Vänskä revealed previously hidden orchestral detail, giving a fully convincing account of a symphony whose cumulative power is all the more remarkable given Mendelssohn was 21 at the time of composition. Youth and experience were ideal foils here.

For details on the their 2024-25 season, head to the Philharmonia Orchestra website

Published post no.2,481 – Saturday 22 March 2025