The Vienna Philharmonic plays Tchaikovsky

Another chance to hear the Vienna Philharmonic perform Tchaikovsky's ‘Pathétique’ Symphony and Mozart's 'Prague' Symphony with conductor Franz Welser-Möst.

Recorded at the Royal Albert Hall on 9th September, 2025.
Presented by Martin Handley

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony No. 38 in D major, ‘Prague’
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 in B minor, ‘Pathétique’

Vienna Philharmonic
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor

Franz Welser-Möst and the Vienna Philharmonic round off their Proms visits with two late, great symphonies, each breaking the musical mould. Hot on the heels of The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart’s ‘Prague’ Symphony is animated by the same iconoclastic brilliance, bewitching audiences with a work whose thematic richness, breadth and ambition outpaced any previous symphony. A century later it was Tchaikovsky’s turn to defy convention with his final, ‘Pathétique’ Symphony – whose confessional intensity and turbulent passions conceal a secret narrative known only to the composer. Huge melodies soar and surge, but there’s no happy ending; the symphony closes not with a shout of triumph but a heart-breaking lament.