Philadelphia Orchestra

by Peter Burwasser

Classical

Previous editions of the Philadelphia Orchestra's annual Absolutely Mozart Festival have tended to cram in as broad a range of the namesake's many musical forms as possible. In this fourth season, the focus is more specifically on the piano concerto. Although Mozart mastered virtually every format at the highest imaginable level, it was for the piano concerto that he created an utterly new style: big, dramatic, superbly crafted — the nonvocal mirror of his operas in their theatrical sensibility. Others have skillfully emulated Mozart's power as a piano concerto composer, but no one has surpassed him. Beethoven was certainly a great student, and his Piano Concerto No. 4, the most Mozartian of his output, will be heard at the festival.

From Mozart himself, we will get the 22nd and 23rd concerti, an interesting yin-yang pairing, and two multiple keyboard works — a concerto for two pianos and the rarely heard Concerto for Three Pianos. Jeffrey Kahane is the piano soloist on Friday and Saturday. Keyboardists for the duo and trio piano pieces include Jeremy Denk, Shai Wosner, Leon Fleisher and Katherine Jacobson. Another superb Mozart concerto is scheduled, the deeply soulful late Clarinet Concerto, with the wonderful first chair from the orchestra, Ricardo Morales. The festival concludes on an appropriately joyous note with the final Mozart symphony, the colossal "Jupiter." Peter Oundjian, whose wise and graceful conducting has helped to make past AMFs so delightful, will be on the podium once again.

Fri.-Sat., June 24-25; Tue.-Thu., June 28-30; 8 p.m., $10-$110, Kimmel Center, 300 S. Broad St., 215-893-1999.