Legacy

Italian musicians, in high demand in 18th-century Vienna, left a lasting mark on the Austrian imperial capital’s culture. Legacy traces the strands of influence that connect the Neapolitan composer and singer Nicola Porpora to his pupil Haydn and to Mozart. Christian-Pierre La Marca builds an absorbing programme around Haydn’s two cello concertos, the first performed like a spectacular interlude in a Baroque opera, the sophisticated second fashioned with spellbinding charm and lyrical warmth. He complements countertenor Philippe Jaroussky’s star qualities in an aria from Porpora’s opera Gli orti esperidi and whets the appetite for more of the Italian composer’s Cello Concerto with an exquisite reading of its poignant slow movement. Period-instrument band Le Concert de la Loge are on top form throughout and simply outstanding in Mozart’s Sinfonia concertante in A major.