Mozart’s music was consumed in very different ways in the early nineteenth century to the way it is today. One of the most popular forms in which his larger-scale instrumental music appeared was for an ensemble consisting of piano, flute, violin and cello; this was the form in which many early nineteenth-century listeners would have heard his symphonies and overtures. This concert addresses the problems posed by the piano concertos, and presents two of Mozart’s best-known works from the Wunderjahr of 1785 in arrangements by two of Mozart’s virtuoso successors, Johann Baptist Cramer and Johann Nepomuk Hummel that date from 1827. We hear the Concerto in E flat major K. 482 in Hummel’s arrangement and the Concerto in C major K. 467 in version by Cramer. The latter, of course, is well known from its association with the 1967 film Elvira Madigan. This concert gives yet another perspective on this fascinating work. The concert begins with Hummel’s arrangement of the overture to Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. David Owen Norris performs on a Stodart compensating grand piano of the 1820s – exactly contemporary with the arrangements – and he is joined by Katy Bircher (flute), Caroline Balding (violin) and Jonathan Byers (cello). The use of period instruments brings yet further dimensions to understanding these canonic works of the composer.

 

Evening schedule

6:30pm - Drinks reception

7pm - Concert

 

Tickets

£18.50; Students/Friends £15

Prices include drinks and canapés

Available directly from Chawton House Library