Mozart’s Masterpiece

The evening

Henri Duparc, a talented pupil of César Franck, based his stand-out symphonic poem Lénore on an extraordinarily popular gothic horror ballad by Gottfried August Bürger. Describing a woman who is tricked by a vampire that looks like her dead fiancé, with its erratic harmonies and undulating and convoluted melodies, it deftly portrays the desolate mood of the poem and its ghostly ride toward death. Mozart wrote his only concerto for clarinet and orchestra in the space of about ten days, when he was at the height of his powers, and only two months before his tragically early death. It is a glorious work: the first great concerto for the instrument, and some would say still the greatest, which displays the range and agility of the clarinet as well as its velvety and soulful qualities. The powerful and highly personal Symphony in D is the Belgian composer’s most famous work. It is lusciously filled with gorgeous Wagnerian harmonies, combining elements of both symphony and symphonic poem in a thematically unified whole. It has enormous emotional appeal and remains an audience favourite.