Riccardo Muti by Schubert, Ab (2019/2019), Dirigat Riccardo Muti, Herkulessaal, München, Deutschland

Ever since Riccardo Muti gave his sensational début with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1981, playing Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, this stellar Italian conductor has maintained close ties with the orchestra. Since then he has also held the Bavarian Radio Chorus in high esteem and gladly includes it on his Munich programmes. This time he entrusts the chorus with a task as challenging as it is glorious: Franz Schubert’s last and longest setting of the Mass. Written in 1828, the year of his death (it has been called the composer’s requiem), the masterly Mass in E flat major points far into the future with its expressiveness and profundity. Bleak trombones also prevail in his “Unfinished” Symphony, whose unfathomability and visionary power have made it a miracle to the present day. Our Schubert portrait opens with the C major Overture “in the Italian style”, displaying the cheerful side of this romantic composer and ensuring high spirits with its Rossini-esque brio – Maestro Muti’s home turf.