Mostly Mozart – Glass Harmonica

Revel in this performance of musical risk-taking.

A morning of musical experimentation awaits as percussionists and their piano contemporaries from the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) perform a selection of works by Mozart and Hungarian-Austrian composer György Ligeti.

For as long as there has been music, there have been composers experimenting and taking risks throughout their creative process. In the case of Mozart, many of his works deemed ‘experimental’ have stood the test of time. In his Adagio for Glass Harmonica, Mozart uses the instrument’s unique timbres to create an otherworldly sound – a sound Paganini hailed as a ‘celestial voice’.

Invented by Benjamin Franklin in the 18th century, the glass harmonica requires virtuosic precision and gentle care from the performers as they rub their wet fingers on the edges of glass bowls to produce ethereal and haunting tones.

Highly celebrated for his avant-garde music-making, the genius of György Ligeti bookends this performance of Mozart’s most demanding repertoire. First, the boundaries of classical music are pushed to the limits with the intricate melodies and unconventional harmonies of his Chamber Concerto. Rounding out the hour-long performance is the seventh movement of his Musica Ricercata – a collection of pieces in which Ligeti attempted to build a compositional style from the ground up – this time arranged for percussion.