Leader and soloist:
Paavali Jumppanen, piano
W. A. Mozart:
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in D, KV 382
Piano Concerto No. 23 in A, KV 488
Serenade No. 6 in D, KV 239, “Serenata notturna”
Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor, KV 491
Paavali Jumppanen, a pianist who has explored the depths of Viennese Classicism in his concerts and writings, has curated a magnificent Mozart programme round two of that maestro’s great piano concertos. Jumppanen has, in the course of a career that has included a visiting fellowship at the Music Department of Harvard University, become thoroughly familiar with the many aspects of his genre, and we now have a chance to hear the fruits of his profound expertise. The Rondo composed as the new finale of the fifth piano concerto (1782) soon became one of Mozart’s most popular works. He composed 12 of his 27 piano concertos, including Nos 23 and 24, at breathtaking speed in 1784–1786. The two on tonight’s programme are eloquent examples of the maturity and poetry of his late works.