Christmas with Mozart

Natal com Mozart

Live music

Saturday 12 December · 20:00

Concert dedicated to Mozart featuring the Sinfonia Concertante and Symphony No. 39, performed by the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Pedro Neves.

What better Christmas gift than a program entirely dedicated to Mozart, revealing two complementary sides of his genius? This concert opens with the Sinfonia Concertante, K.364, composed in Salzburg in the summer of 1779, after returning from a trip to Paris and in a context of growing tension between the composer and Archbishop Colloredo. This hybrid work between symphony and double concerto stands out for the equal dialogue between violin and viola. Mozart gives the viola a particularly bright sonority, requiring a slightly higher tuning than usual, a device that enhances its presence against the orchestral ensemble. The first movement, Allegro maestoso, dazzles with an abundance of melodic ideas. The Andante, in C minor, evokes the expressive gravity of the operatic genre. Finally, the Presto recovers, in the rhythm of a contradance, a spirited and refined joy. This is followed by Symphony No. 39, K.543 (1788), written in Vienna during a period of financial difficulties, which delayed its public premiere. The orchestration replaces oboes with clarinets, giving the work a more velvety and autumnal color. The slow and solemn introduction, unusual for Mozart, prepares an Allegro of pastoral serenity. The Andante con moto reveals progressive elaborations of texture. The Menuetto stands out for a trio where the clarinet takes on an unforgettable melodic role. The Finale, almost monothematic, pays homage to Haydn with rhythmic cunning and subtle humor. Under the sure baton of Pedro Neves, violinist Ana Pereira, violist Joana Cipriano and the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra offer an encounter with Mozart's instrumental maturity: a concert where expressive depth and lightness of spirit coexist in perfect balance.