Get a taste of Vienna when native son Manfred Honeck conducts two masterworks from the Imperial City. It was 1781 when Mozart defied his father and relocated to Vienna, a place that today boasts of being “the capital of classical music.” For Mozart, the locals proved to be an eager audience, dazzled by his singular skills at the piano. Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22 plays like a theater piece, pitting the grandeur of the orchestra against the nuanced personality of the solo piano—in these performances, singularly tackled by superb Norweigan pianist Leif Ove Andsnes.
Anton Bruckner waited until he was 44 to make the leap to Vienna where he crafted cathedral-like architectures in music. Unfortunately for him, the Viennese critics complained that he was beyond comprehension. Today, audiences love him for it.