Oh to be young again...

Last night I heard a very beautiful rendition of Mozart's Grabmusik performed by my friend Richard Westenburg and his Musica Sacra (with great solo work from my colleagues Judith Pannill and Kent Smith). This work, written when Mozart was 11, contains a little unidiomatic vocal writing (including a bass aria that is a precursor of Der Hölle Rache, which was brilliantly handled by Kent) but much that is very beautiful.

"It is sobering to think that when Mozart was my age, he'd been dead for 7 years" (paraphrasing Tom Lehrer)