Staatskapelle Berlin

The three (and last) symphonies composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the summer of 1788 form the great portal to Beethoven’s thinking and work in the field of instrumental music. They contain preforms of essential elements that the younger composer adopted and elaborated. The dramaturgical direction and joint motivic primal cells relate both the various movements of each work and the entire pieces of the triad to each other. The first of the three symphonies is the only one to begin with a slow introduction; the finale of the last one, the “Jupiter” Symphony, surpasses all others in grandeur and therefore is not only a convincing conclusion of one work but also of a longer journey – its basic motif having left its mark in the first two symphonies already. The effect is overwhelming when, out of the “cloud of dust” (Harnoncourt) in which the E-flat major symphony suddenly disappears, the G minor symphony takes on its delicate shape. The trilogy is more than the sum of its symphonies.

Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin know all sides of Mozart’s art, chamber music, serenades, solo concerts, symphonies, great vocal works and even operas. Mozart’s last three symphonies draw from this experience and some of the topoi from all these areas. They underline the genre’s claim to universality, which was already beyond question for Beethoven.