The programme opens with Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto: “Sensitively supported by the rich and supple tone of the strings, Schiff’s pianistic virtuosity explores the length and breadth of Beethoven’s early work”, was the admiring verdict of the Salzburg press. Schiff again succeeds in Schubert’s Symphony No. 5 “from the first note to the last in creating a sound world that flooded the mind’s eye with images” (Drehpunkt Kultur). The climax of the concert is the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 23. “Schiff here demonstrates his skill in pianistic interpretation and in conducting, nuanced, passionate, a sensitive revelation”, enthused the press.
Minkowski conducts Mozart and Schubert
The Salzburg Mozart Week – arranged by the Mozarteum foundation, the trustees of Mozart’s musical legacy – is always offering something unique: under the direction of the principal conductor and artistic director of the Salzburg Mozart Week, Mark Minkowski, the Musiciens du Louvre perform on not one but two of Mozart’s original instruments! Mozart’s Violin Concerto and his Piano Concerto in A major are played on instruments that were once in the composer’s possession. In Franz Schubert’s Great C major Symphony, the culmination of this wonderful evening, ”Minkowski and the Musiciens du Louvre are entirely in their element” (Wiener Zeitung).