Violin Concerto No. 5 New York Performances

Mozart wrote his Violin Concerto No. 5 in 1775, shaping it in the expected fast–slow–fast arc while letting the outer movements wander into brief tempo detours. The finale’s “Turkish” nickname points to period Viennese fascination with Ottoman-style color, heard here as a theatrical change in accent and character. At David Geffen Hall, Gil Shaham joins the New York Philharmonic in a program of Mozart concertos and companion pieces. Its lasting point is Mozart’s balance of elegance and sly disruption, kept within classical proportions.