The MCO year started with Mozart and Mitsuko Uchida in Spain – what a treat! José Vicente has already reported how much he and we all enjoyed this tour. Only a few days after the end of the Spain tour, we all met again in Luxemburg to continue with the second part of the tour – back to central European winter!
In Luxemburg, Salzburg and Frankfurt, we played three more concerts with the piano concertos, again most lovingly interpreted by Mitsuko, and also with a short piece by the teenaged Mozart in between: The Divertimento K. 137 for strings. It was an interesting challenge to play this early work in between his much more mature compositions, we kept rehearsing it and discussing about various aspects of the piece. I think it was worth it, our interpretation developed throughout these eight concerts.
And the same was true for the main works of the programmes: There was always something to question or to improve, and also, it’s always important to adapt to each hall. We had very interesting and very diverse venues: A very good modern hall in Luxemburg, then the beautiful, very supportive acoustics of the 102-year-old, breathtakingly decorated Mozarteum in Salzburg – Mitsuko was raving about it and said „Can you imagine, there are some musicians who always play here!!?“ – and then the really enormous hall of Alte Oper Frankfurt. It was absolutely marvelous to hear Mitsuko play Mozart’s concertos and to accompany her, and moreover she „spoilt“ the public and us with infinitely beautiful encores. 
In each of the concerts, some very dear friends of mine were listening, which is always special! Mitsuko invited the whole orchestra for a reception after the last concert. That was so very kind of her, and also her touching speech: She said that she felt we were all soulmates!
During this second part of the tour, I had chamber music rehearsals in addition to the orchestra activities. As one of the three „Fokus Mitsuko Uchida“ concerts in Frankfurt’s Alte Oper, we played a chamber concert on the departure day of all other MCO musicians. The programme included Mozart’s flute quartet in D major (K. 285) and, together with Jörg Widmann, the clarinet quintet K. 581. He and Mitsuko also played the Fantasiestücke by Schumann, of which I could unfortunately only hear their rehearsal. They sounded overwhelming! I took great pleasure in rehearsing and performing the flute quartet with my wonderful MCO colleagues Chiara, Joel and Philipp, as well as in playing the clarinet quintet with Itamar, Joel and Philipp and of course with Jörg, whom I’ve known for so many years, but not collaborated with in a while. He’s so inspired and inspiring, and I always learn a lot from him.
To find the right expression, spirit and wit, the lightness and also the depth as an interpreter of Mozart’s music is a life-long challenge. Despite this undeniable difficulty, I just really enjoyed being on stage with my dear colleagues and such beloved music!
Photos: Geoffroy Schied
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