Mitsuko Uchida piano & director
Mark Steinberg concertmaster & leader
Mahler Chamber Orchestra

W. A. MOZART  Piano Concerto No. 23, K. 488
A. WEBERN Five Movements, Op. 5
A. WEBERN Variations, Op. 27
W. A. MOZART Piano Concerto No. 24, K. 491

Poised and precise, elegant and immaculate – these are some of the words that have been used to describe the performances of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and our Artistic Partner Mitsuko Uchida. Almost two years since our last performance together, we reunite to begin a tour sharing our celebrated approach to Mozart’s piano concertos.

The two concertos, Nos. 23 & 24, are considered close siblings, one major, one minor, both written three weeks apart in a year when Mozart’s creativity seemed to know no bounds; they were both written while he put the finishing touches to his opera Le nozze di Figaro. Both works showcase Mozart’s recent innovation of creating a free exchange of materials and ideas between piano and orchestra, creating a new musicial situation that enabled all the dynamic intimacy of chamber music in an orchestral setting, the ideal representation for what makes the partnership between Uchida and the MCO so special. The Serenata notturna, performed by the MCO alone, forms the programme’s centrepiece.