Troubled Light

The title Troubled Light comes, in part, from Haydn himself. Before it became known as the Nelson Mass, he called the work Missa in angustiis: a “Mass in troubled times,” written in 1798 against the background of war in Europe. The music begins in D minor and ultimately arrives in D major after a complex and moving journey between the parallel keys.

Mozart’s Piano Concerto K. 482 operates on a smaller scale but contains a similar metamorphosis. Written in E-flat major in 1785, its central Andante moves unexpectedly into C minor; at the concerto’s premiere, that movement made enough of an impression that the audience demanded it again. With Shai Wosner and Ghostlight Chorus, we put these two works next to one another and lean into the contrast.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Piano Concert K. 482
Shai Wosner, piano

Joseph Haydn
Nelson Mass
Ghostlight Chorus