Sometimes it’s a relief to know in advance that everything will turn out all right! The overture to Mozart’s opera “Idomeneo”, which premiered in 1781, is a delight to listen to: in the end, the eponymous King of Crete does not have to sacrifice his son Idamante to the sea god Poseidon; the prince ascends the throne alongside his beloved princess Ilia, and the only casualty is a sea monster. This is followed by the harmonies of Mozart’s early ‘little’ G minor symphony – one of only two of his symphonies not in a major key.

Next, conductor Giovanni Antonini takes up the recorder as a soloist in a Telemann concerto, and finally Joseph Haydn’s last symphony, No. 104, is performed, delighting musicologists as well as everybody else with its flawless structure.