Daniel Harding in conversation with Noah Bendix-Balgley (17 min.)

In April 2018, the Berliner Philharmoniker played an all-Mozart programme under the direction of Daniel Harding. In addition to the incomplete yet consummate Mass in C Minor, they performed his little-known Symphony No. 32 plus two concert arias which expressed both the humorous and the melancholy side of the composer. To mark the performance with the Philharmoniker, the conductor talked to Noah Bendix-Balgley, one of the orchestra’s First Concertmasters. Harding, who gained his early experience as an assistant to Sir Simon Rattle and Claudio Abbado and regularly performs with the Philharmoniker, discusses among other things the spiritual dimension of polyphony and explains why Mozart’s works demand of their performers a specific balance of security and self-doubt.