The Full Works Concert - Friday 1 November 2013

November gets under way with a Chinese piano concerto and the world premiere recording of a lost Baroque cello concerto.

Rossini's overture for The Thieving Magpie opens the concert. The opera tells the story of a servant accused of stealing a silver spoon but, at the last minute, his master's magpie is found to be the true culprit. The title is a bit of a spoiler for the mystery really. 

Cellist Sol Gabetta - pictured - was looking for interesting new repertoire for the cello when she came across breathtaking baroque cello concertos which were hidden in an archive in a Bavarian castle. The works were commissioned by the Duke of Schloss Wiesentheid who played the cello and commissioned works from Italian composers. Tonight we hear the world premiere recording by Gabetta of Fortunato Chelleri's Cello Concerto in G major.

Mozart was just 21 when he wrote his Mass in C minor. He was engaged to Constanze Weber who suddenly became ill. When she finally did recover, Mozart vowed to write a Mass in thanks for her life. This he did, despite history having deprived us of a couple of major chunks of it – parts of the Credo and Sanctus are not intact. The story of its premiere at the Salzburg court of Archbishop Colleredo seems romantic, if not least for one aspect: singing the female solo was Constanze herself.

The Yellow River Piano Concerto was a collaboration between musicians including Yin Chengzong and Chu Wanghua, and based on the Yellow River Cantata by composer Xian Xinghai. Since its politicised premiere in 1969 during the Cultural Revolution, the Concerto has become popular in China and amongst overseas Chinese nationalists.

Gioachino Rossini: The Thieving Magpie – Overture
Carlo Maria Giulini conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra

Fortunato Chelleri: Cello Concerto in G major WD.531
Cello: Sol Gabetta
Andreas Gabetta conducts Capella Gabetta

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Mass in C minor K427
Soloists: Barbara Hendricks, Janet Perry, Benjamin Luxon, Peter Schreier
Herbert von Karajan conducts the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vienna Singverein

Xian Xinghai: Yellow River Piano Concerto
Piano: Lang Lang Long Yu conducts the China Philharmonic Orchestra