Franz Welser-Möst and the Vienna Philharmonic round off their Proms visits with two late, great symphonies, each breaking the musical mould. Hot on the heels of The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart’s ‘Prague’ Symphony is animated by the same iconoclastic brilliance, bewitching audiences with a work whose thematic richness, breadth and ambition outpaced any previous symphony. A century later it was Tchaikovsky’s turn to defy convention with his final, ‘Pathétique’ Symphony – whose confessional intensity and turbulent ions conceal a secret narrative known only to the composer. Huge melodies soar and surge, but there’s no happy ending; the symphony closes not with a shout of triumph but a heart-breaking lament.
Broadcast on BBC Four and BBC iPlayer this season
Franz Welser-Möst © Michael Pöhn