The bubbling Overture to Mozart’s Così fan tutte lifted the curtain on the second concert in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s A Mozart Celebration with pianist Emanuel Ax. Following the darker Dramatic Mozart that kicked off the mini-festival last week, Seductive Mozart saw conductor David Robertson and the SSO pivot the mood to, if not quite seduction, then certainly joyful festivity. Like the other two concerts in the Celebration, Seductive Mozart followed the format of overture, two piano concertos and one of Mozart’s final trio of symphonies to cap it off.

In a letter to his father Mozart described his – now rather neglected – Piano Concerto No 16, K451, as a concerto “that will make the performer sweat.” You wouldn’t know it from Ax’s performance though, the pianist echoing the confident trumpet-and-drums of the opening tutti in his piano entry before his articulate runs melted into something more sonorous. As in last week’s performance it was Ax’s attention to phrasing and shape, as well as a deeply felt sense of musical impetus, that drew the audience in. But here there was also an abundance of playfulness as well, the pianist trading quirky mordents with the winds, Robertson digging into the...