The New Criterion

Mozart wrote his “Orphanage Mass” when he was twelve. Pretty good. Mendelssohn wrote his Octet in E flat when he was sixteen. Really good. Jay provides excerpts from these works, and also presents Chopin and Argerich, Strauss and Davidsen, and more. As the episode begins with Mozart, it ends with Mozart: a heavenly soprano aria from some vespers. You could well nigh ascend. Mozart, Mass in C minor (“Waisenhausmesse”), K. 139 Mendelssohn, Octet in E flat Chopin, Largo, Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58 Strauss, “Cäcilie” Strauss, “Ruhe, meine Seele!” Mozart, “Laudate Dominum omnes gentes,” from “Vesperae solennes de confessore”