With newfound freedom, both Mozart and Haydn were enthralled by cities teeming with culture and innovation. For the former, a piece designed as party music for his native Salzburg was transformed into a pulsating symphony for Vienna. The ‘Haffner’ calls for, and commands, your attention, the pace of Viennese life reflected in its racing finale with instruction to be played as fast as possible.
For Haydn, it was London that catalysed a new suite of symphonies. No.101 spans a dazzling array of events and emotions encountered in a bustling metropolis, but it was the charming tick-tock accompaniment of the second movement that sent its first London audiences wild.
We are delighted to welcome Gábor Takács-Nagy – Music Director of the award-winning Manchester Camerata and Principal Guest Conductor of the Budapest Festival Orchestra – to conduct Southbank Sinfonia for the first time.
