Maggie Cole (fortepiano) and Kati Debretzeni (violin)

Mozart played the piano part in the première of his Sonata No 32; although he remembered it well, he had no time to write it out, so performed with a sheet of blank music paper in front of him, to fool the audience. The Emperor Joseph II apparently saw the empty sheet music through his opera glasses, and asked Mozart to show him the manuscript. Mozart had to confess the truth, although that is likely to have amused the monarch.

Beethoven's 'Spring' Sonata, one of his happiest and most popular works, is followed by a piece by the relatively little known Ivan Khandoshkin, reputedly the finest violinist of eighteenth century Russia. The concert ends with a rare minor-key sonata by 'Papa' Haydn; scored for harpsichord or fortepiano, at the performer's choice, it shows Haydn's growing awareness of the dynamic possibilities offered by the fortepiano.