Linz

Autumn 1783. On the return journey from Salzburg to Vienna, Mozart and his wife Constanze stopped off at Linz. It turned out that their host, Count Thun-Hohenstein, had planned a concert. Since Mozart did not have a symphony with him, he quickly wrote a new one. The job was done in just five days. Yet this Linz Symphony (KV 425) shows no signs of haste. It is a well thought-out composition, permeated with the typically Mozartian cocktail of unbridled lyricism and ominous depth. Melody also dominates the piano concerto KV 453, which Mozart wrote several months later. Alexander Melnikov must surely be the perfect pianist to perform this refined solo part. The fact that Mozart displayed boundless imagination as an orchestrator too is proven by his light and airy Serenata Notturna (KV 239).