Viennese Virtuosity

Musical metamorphoses: Mozart, Haydn and their colleagues come together as AAM celebrates a friendship that transformed music for ever.

‘The greatest composer known to me, either in person, or by reputation.’ Joseph Haydn never stopped admiring his younger friend Mozart: but the pair shared many musical friendships, and one day in Vienna in 1784 they came together with two of the finest composers of the age for one of the most extraordinary musical gatherings of all time.

Laurence Cummings and AAM celebrate that miraculous occasion with symphonies by all four masters. Mozart and Haydn need no introduction. But we’ll also play music by the Czech livewire Johann Wanhal and his teacher, the upwardly-mobile Ditters von Dittersdorf. Four geniuses, striking sparks off each other – and being transformed by the experience.