A Glassful of Mozart

There are some works that never fail to send a shiver down one’s spine, no matter how familiar you are with them—and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 is one such piece, balancing fragility and limpid beauty with muscularity and depth. These performances add a layer of intrigue with the delicate voice of the fortepiano, in the hands of a wizard of this instrument—Kristian Bezuidenhout. The concerts are concluded with one of Mozart’s positively sparkling Symphony No. 33, a piece full of light, air and transparency—think of it as a glass of champagne to contrast with the rich ruby port of the earlier piano concerto. Interspersing Mozart is an overture from Joseph Martin Kraus, nick-named the ‘Swedish Mozart’ and known for sudden twists and turns in the harmony of his music, plus a work that had great influence on the young Mozart—J.C. Bach’s innovative and appealing Symphony in G minor.