NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Babayan / Manze

»It’s such a pity that Mozart wasn’t French!«, Claude Debussy once complained. A glance at tonight’s concert programme might almost create the opposite impression: British conductor Andrew Manze has put together a programme that juxtaposes Mozart’s music with French works from the early 20th century, thus following this concert’s original concept:

The original conductor, Robin Ticciati, and pianist Maria João Pires, who will make her last stage appearance in 2018, were both obliged to cancel their participation. The charismatic British conductor of the NDR Radiophilharmonie, Andrew Manze, and the American-Armenian pianist Sergei Babayan will take their places. The change of conductor means that a large part of the concert programme had to be altered as well: after Debussy’s »Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune« we hear Mozart’s last piano concerto, K. 595, as originally planned. After the interval, Ravel’s »Le Tombeau de Couperin« is paired with Mozart’s »Haffner« Symphony, K. 385.