Manfred Honeck & Emanuel Ax

With the Philharmonia Orchestra, pianist Emanuel Ax plays one of Mozart’s greatest concertos, framed by music from two operas that couldn’t be more different. You can almost hear the fizz of champagne in the overture to Die Fledermaus (The Bat). Johann Strauss II’s sparkling music sets the scene for a tale of friendship and frivolity, drinking, dancing and disguise, extra-marital flirtation and forgiveness. Next comes Mozart’s Piano Concerto K.503, acclaimed by a contemporary critic not just as one of his finest concertos, but ‘maybe the most magnificent of all the concertos which have ever been written’.