Violin Concertos Nos 1, 2 & 5

SACD/Hybrid - playable on all compact disc players
DSD recorded

All cadenzas and ornamental entrances by Julia Fischer and Yakov Kreizberg

On August 21, 1772, the 16-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was appointed by the Salzburg Archbishop Colloredo as leader in his orchestra, with an annual salary of 150 florins. During the next few years, Mozart wrote the majority of his concertante works for violin and orchestra, starting with the Violin Concerto in B flat, K.207 (1773) and the Concertone for 2 Violins, Oboe, Cello and Orchestra, K.190 (1774). This was followed in 1775 by the four other violin concertos (in D, K.211; in G, K.216; in D, K.218 and in A, K.219). Somewhat later, in the summer or autumn of 1779, he composed the Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola, K.364. Finally, there are three more short concertante movements, which also more or less date from this period: an Adagio in E, K.261 (1776), a Rondo in B flat, K.269 (1775-1777) and a Rondo in C (1781).

Although at that moment the violin was clearly his instrument, it is not clear whether Mozart was in fact writing the concertos as a personal performance vehicle. One of the few surviving letters, in which the composer mentions a violin concerto, was written in Augsburg in 1777. During this journey, Mozart was celebrated as a violinist. Among other works, he performed a violin concerto by his colleague Johann Baptist Vanhall: "I conducted a Sinfonia and played Vanhall's Concerto in B flat on the violin to general acclaim.” But one of his own violin concertos, the so-called Strassburg Concerto, was also on the programme: "That night at supper I played the Strassburg Concerto; it went like clockwork; everyone praised my beautiful, clean tone.” But that is about all Mozart ever wrote about his own performance as a violinist. The fact that he wrote alternative movements for two concertos demonstrates that his violin concertos were also performed by others than himself (such as his Salzburg colleague Antonio Brunetti).