B5: Mozart A Mahler by Mozart, Mahler, No (2018/2018), Diriģents Heiko Mathias Förster, Dům kultury města Ostravy (Janáčkova filharmonie Ostrava), Ostrava, Czech Republic

This is one of Mozart’s last works, and thanks to its second movement it is considered the most beautiful concerto ever written for the clarinet. Rumour has it that Mozart’s friend the clarinetist A. Stadler kept him in a locked shed until Mozart had finished the composition. Mozart did not want to lose his friend, so he wrote the concerto and died a few days later while writing the Requiem. He left a wonderful work for clarinetists which shows how strong he still was shortly before his death. We will be listening to a performance by an outstanding Spanish soloist whose excellent technique, passion, sensitivity and ability to interact with the audience is highly appreciated by critics. Gustav Mahler tried to express the whole world in his giant symphonies, and he developed an original way creating an engaging orchestral narrative. But he had no desire for repetition, which is why each of his colossal symphonies is different. The Seventh Symphony was first presented in Prague in 1908 by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Mahler himself, and the theme is night and its forms.