December 2nd 2006
A Mozart Concert

7:30pm, St Peter's Church, Acton Green, Southfield Road, Chiswick, London, W4

This concert was generously supported by Yamaha Kemble Music (UK) Ltd.

Piano Concerto in C Minor, K491

• Eduard Kunz – Soloist

This remarkable, dramatic and dark concerto was complete in March 1786. Only five weeks later Mozart completed his opera The Marriage of Figaro. Figaro is a work that really revolutionised opera with the lengthy finales to Acts Two and Four, devoid of all recitative and full of lively melody.; The Concerto in the dark key of C minor is one of the composer's finest works in this genre. That the composer could work on two such vastly different pieces at the same time points to Mozart's rich imagination and genius.

Mass in C Minor, K427
(Completed and edited by Robert D Levin)

• Lesley Jane Rogers – Soprano 1
• Kathryn Hyde – Soprano 2
• Austin Gunn – Tenor
• Russell Scott – Bass

This famous Mass has posed problems over the years. Intended as a festival Mass of thanksgiving for his marriage to Constanze, scholars have wondered why this work, full of some of the composer's finest choral inspirations, was never completed. Certainly in the form of a "cantata Mass" – that is a mass in many musical movements, it would never have been performed liturgically. Bach's great Mass in B minor is in a similar form. Mozart has left no clue to his abandoning the work. There have been numerous editions of the mass over the years, but this new one by Professor Robert Levin is the first to attempt a completion of the work based upon material from Mozart's note books and existing motifs from the Mass. Commissioned by the Carnegie Hall Foundation, this version was first performed in Carnegie Hall on January 15^th, 2005, conducted by Helmuth Rilling. It contains marvellous new music, particularly for the chorus – notably the wonderful fugue for the "Crucifixus" with its glorious flowing melody.

The new edition has caused a stir in the musical world and many performances have been planned in this Mozart Anniversary Year, in particular one by Sir Charles Mackerras at the 2006 BBC Promenade Concerts.