Performers
Daniel Barenboim
The Berlin Philharmonic

Daniel Barenboim Buenos Aires-born child prodigy and world-famous, if sometimes controversial conductor tends to be known these days for commanding the world's orchestras or leading his own admirable experiment in race relations, the East-Western Divan Orchestra, so it is refreshing to see him here returning to his roots. It was on the piano that he gave his first recital aged five, and with which he took the classical world by storm in his teens, so it is perhaps fitting that here he plays the work of another musician whose gift was in evidence from the outset; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Mozart's Piano Concerto No 21 K467 in C major, like the preceeding No 20 echoes and prefigures Mozart's later operas, though unlike the 20 the jaunty opening of the 21 has rather more in common with Cosi fan tutte than Don Giovanni. Composed in 1785, just a month after the Piano Concerto No 20, it is technically demanding work that is largely remembered today for its lyrical second movement, which was featured in the 1967 Swedish film, Elvira Madigan.