Giovanni Antonini & Lydia Teuscher by Mozart, Haydn, Mendelssohn, Aπό (2022/2022), αγωγός Giovanni Antonini, Studienkirche, Passau, Germany

Among conductors, Giovanni Antonini continues to number among the “savages” who use ultra-brisk tempos to breathe unparalleled passion and vivacity into the music of bygone eras. In the meantime he no longer specialises in Baroque music, but increasingly devotes himself to the Classical and early Romantic periods. Between Mozart’s “Little” G minor Symphony and Haydn’s “Drumroll” Symphony (written for London), the soprano Lydia Teuscher will sing three famous concert arias by Mozart and Mendelssohn. The Mozart arias were originally inserted into comic operas by other composers; today they can be heard in concert as precious gems in their own right. Mendelssohn composed his aria of love and vengeance for Maria Malibran, placing at her side a poignant violin solo to be played by the virtuoso Charles-Auguste de Bériot, her lover at the time and later her husband.