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.

Here, Barenboim performs Mozart's penultimate Piano Concerto, composed in February 1788, at a time when Viennese audiences had somewhat lost their taste for Mozart's music. It premiered therefore two years later, in Dresden in 1789. The nickname 'the Coronation' comes Mozart's 1790 visit to Frankfurt-am-Main to attend the coronation of Leopold II, with whom Mozart hoped to obtain a lucrative royal appointment. The concert that was performed there, which featured the Piano Concerto No 26 was poorly received however, the imperial post did not materialise, and Mozart was forced to return to Vienna empty-handed.