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Mozart aimed to please. He created arias that were ‘perfectly tailored’ to their singer’s voice, and rituals of solemn grandeur for his fellow Freemasons. And for his superfans in the music-loving city of Prague, he wrote a symphony designed to knock them backwards with its daring, its energy and its sheer theatrical flair. In this second of three Mozart Momentum concerts at the Proms, Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes zooms in on the year 1786, and finds Amadeus at the absolute peak of his game. Soprano Christiane Karg is one of the supreme Mozart interpreters of our time; and Andsnes takes the place of the composer, directing Mozart’s tragic C minor Piano Concerto – some say his greatest – from the piano.

Image: Christiane Karg © Gisela Schenker