Kirill Petrenko conducts Mozart and Schumann
For Easter 1779, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote a mass in the radiant key of C major – the composer’s undisputed favourite key for this genre. It was only when it was performed at the coronation of Leopold II in Prague around a decade later that it came to be known as the Coronation Mass. Chief conductor Kirill Petrenko and the Berliner Philharmoniker present the work, accompanied by Mozart’s equally joyful motet “Exsultate, jubilate” with soprano Louise Alder. Schumann’s Fourth Symphony provides a counterpoint.
In his “most independent contribution to symphonic music” (Mathias Husmann), Robert Schumann experimented with the concept of a through-composed work whose movements also feature motivic connections – at times he considered the title “Phantasie”. The unusually dynamic structure was met with a lukewarm reception by the audience at its premiere in 1841. Ten years later, the composer revised what was chronologically his second symphony and published a version with modified instrumentation, which, according to Schumann, was “better and more effective”. The Düsseldorf premiere of the revised version was a great success. Here, Kirill Petrenko also conducts this final version of the work.
Mozart’s “Exsultate, jubilate” was premiered at the Sant’Antonio Abate church in Milan shortly before the composer’s 17th birthday. The motet – a small solo concerto for voice and orchestra in three movements – is about how a person frees themselves from worries and distress and finds new courage to face life through prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mozart was inspired to write this work by the castrato Venanzio Rauzzini. The coloratura-rich vocal part is evidence of his virtuosity; his voice must have been powerful enough to outshine the ensemble, which was reinforced by horns and oboes. In performances today, the part is usually sung by a soprano, in this case Louise Alder. The British singer also performs in the Coronation Mass alongside Wiebke Lehmkuhl, Linard Vrielink, Krešimir Stražanac and the Orfeó Català choir, founded in 1908, with whom the work was also performed at the 2023 Europakonzert in Barcelona. It is an almost exuberant profession of faith, culminating in jubilation over the anticipated resurrection. But just how serious was Mozart, a Freemason, about the Christian faith? “I always have God before my eyes,” he wrote in a letter in 1777. In this relatively short mass, Mozart achieves the ultimate in colour and expression, leaving no doubt about his sincere joie de vivre and deep trust in God.
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