With the world hurtling toward destruction, we’ll do our best to offer an oasis of sanity on the next “Music from Marlboro.”

Find solace in Wolfgang’s Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Trio in B flat major, K. 502. The composer took evident pleasure in writing for the combination of violin, cello and piano. For one thing, these works provided him opportunities to connect with fellow musicians as a performer. He even regarded some as party pieces.

K. 502 was written when Mozart was 30 years-old and at the peak of his powers. It was composed in 1786, the year of the premiere of “The Marriage of Figaro.” Like the opera, Mozart’s trio subverts a kind of class stratification, elevating the stringed instruments, formerly relegated to supporting roles, so that they attain equal footing with the piano. This egalitarian gesture allows for a kind of civilized discourse between friends.

We’ll hear it performed at the Marlboro Music Festival in 1968, by violinist Jaime Laredo, cellist Madeline Foley, and pianist Rudolf Serkin.

Then Mozart reaches for the stars, both figuratively and by association. It was probably nowhere in the composer’s thoughts that his Symphony No. 41, composed in 1788, would bear the subtitle “Jupiter.” Like most nicknames, the sobriquet was bestowed by others. That said, it could hardly be more appropriate, as this is one of Mozart’s most Olympian works. It turned out to be his final symphony – and what a way to go!

The fugato passages of the finale, with the effortless interweaving of no less than five harmonious themes, is breathtaking in its ambition and scale. The spirit of indomitable optimism is just the thing we need right now.

We’ll hear it performed by the Marlboro Festival Orchestra in 1967, conducted by a 90 year-old Pablo Casals.

Music may not be a cure-all, but it sure does serve to remind us that there is still beauty in the world and something noble in humanity. Would that everyone could tap into that largeness of spirit and aspire to something greater.

It’s Mozart for sanity, on the next “Music from Marlboro,” this Wednesday evening at 6:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page