Mozart. Bach. Gluck

This evening's programme takes us to the late 18th century, where the Classical style had become established and the music of its finest proponents – among them Mozart, Gluck and J. C. Bach – was already uniting clarity of form with a quite extraordinary capacity for emotional depth. At the core of the evening stands outstanding British countertenor Hugh Cutting, whose remarkable vocal artistry and stylistic sensitivity have already established him as one of the most compelling musicians of his generation. Together with Emmanuel Villaume, he guides us through an evening of some of the most exquisite arias of that period.

In the opening music from the opera Mitridate, re di Ponto – composed when Mozart was just fourteen – we are afforded a glimpse of the sharp dramatic instinct and intense emotional power that were to become a feature of Mozart's later musical masterpieces. This is music of crystalline clarity on the surface, and yet concealing powerful emotions and moments of inner conflict, demonstrating perfectly Mozart's ability to convey depth through apparently simple means.

A similar combination of formal clarity with sweet lyricism and an intensity of inner feeling can be found in the aria Perché tarda è mai la morte by J. C. Bach, who himself exerted a profound influence on the young Mozart.

The music of Mozart's older contemporary Gluck, whose operatic reforms sought to place emotional sincerity in music above decorative excess, is striking in its expressive power – here, too, achieved by simple compositional means – and in the breadth and sincerity of the emotions it conveys, from longing and grief through tenderness to moments of drama.

The remainder of the evening presents Mozart in strong expressive contrast with himself. Picking up the operatic thread, the overture to Don Giovanni sets a scene of dark brooding, giving way to a sparkling energy that transitions us into the pure sunshine of the Linz Symphony – Mozart at his most radiant.