Pygmalion / Pichon

When Mozart moved to Vienna in 1781, he left his career as a church musician in Salzburg behind. He tried his hand at working as a freelance musician. Nevertheless, it was precisely at this time that he began work on his last major mass composition, the unfinished Mass in C minor. The fact that he was exploring Baroque compositional techniques during this period is evident in the work. With the Mass, he also expressed his gratitude for his marriage to Constanze, which had only been achieved after great difficulties. At the first performance of the completed parts of the Mass in Salzburg Cathedral, she sang the soprano part.

A liturgical masterpiece of the Viennese Classical period
At the Vienna Konzerthaus, Sabine Devieilhe can be heard as soprano, together with the period instrument ensemble Pygmalion, mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre, tenor Kieran Carrel and bass Huw Montague Rendall. Ensemble director Raphaël Pichon, renowned for his sophisticated programming, has also included further choral works by Romantic composers who likewise engaged with Baroque compositional techniques: Anton Bruckner, Franz Schubert and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Pygmalion has already impressed audiences with many a benchmark-setting interpretation. We are now delighted to hear Mozart’s »Great Mass« under his baton, a work that has been performed at the Vienna Konzerthaus only a dozen or so times to date.