Basel Chamber Orchestra & Piotr Anderszewski, piano

This considered program from one of the preeminent chamber orchestras of Europe, the “impeccable” (The Guardian) Basel Chamber Orchestra, shows the influence of Mozart’s gallant works on the French compositional school of the 20th century. Beginning with Francis Poulenc’s charming, light-hearted Sinfonietta, the orchestra is joined by “one of the most revered pianists today, and one of the most delightfully unpredictable” (NPR) Piotr Anderszewski in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 12 in A Major, a sunny work with a heartfelt Andante composed in memory of J. C. Bach, Mozart’s mentor. Then, Debussy’s orchestrations of two of Satie’s famed Gymnopédies precede Mozart’s humorous, lyrical, and virtuosic Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major. Rounding out the program is the US premiere of Meta Arca, a work for strings by the Swiss composer Heinz Holliger in which muscular gestures show off the tremendous variety of sounds capable of emanating from the violin.