A programme of pure Viennese genius, featuring scores composed a more than a century apart: Mozart’s sumptuous Concerto No.23 and the powerful ‘Titan’ Symphony that elevated Mahler the conductor to Mahler the composer.

Olivier Messiaen considered Concerto No.23, with its stunning and ‘prophetic’ Adagio, to be Mozart’s finest score; it is true that its harmonic and melodic perfection, and its dramatic effect worthy of Don Giovanni, make it an absolute masterpiece among concertos. In counterpoint, Mahler’s Symphony No.1, long misunderstood, offers four movements already indicative of the composer’s artistry: the creation of enchanting and static layers of sound, the tragic reactivation of the Lied spirit, the ironic use of borrowed references and parody, mixing gravity and futility, and meditative inspiration rimmed with fantastical shadows. The Symphony’s nickname ‘Titan’ is a reference to the poet Jean Paul, whom Schumann admired, as an homage to romanticism and the promise of surpassing it.