Mozart Magic Mozart, Beethoven

Plymouth Guildhall, Plymouth

Mozart’s last symphony is one of the great masterpieces of the genre. From the heroic opening flourishes to the triumphant five-part fugato near the end, it bubbles over with Mozart’s high spirits and compositional genius. Here is late Mozart at the height of his powers. In his overture to The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart skilfully captures the celebratory, madcap spirit of the opera, reflecting the joyful spirit of the wedding day and accentuating the contrasting characters of the nobility and the servant classes who feature. It begins with a famously difficult unison passage in the strings and bassoons that scurries along, crackling with mischievous energy. Beethoven’s Violin Concerto belongs to the flood of compositions that poured from his pen during the most productive period of his life, unleashed by his spiritual crisis of 1802 and the realisation of his oncoming deafness. Despite this, it feels like a celebration, perhaps modest and reserved, but triumphant nonetheless.