Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performer: Aisslinn Nosky, Max Mandel, Handel and Haydn Society
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Coro
Catalogue: COR16183
Release: 2021
Size: 1.38 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major, K216
01. I. Allegro
02. II. Adagio
03. III. Rondeau – Allegro
Violin Concerto No. 4 in D major, K218
04. I. Allegro
05. II. Andante cantabile
06. III. Rondeau – Andante grazioso
Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola & Orchestra in E flat major, K364
07. I. Allegro maestoso
08. II. Andante
09. III. Presto
Mozarts Violin Concertos need little introduction from No. 3 in G major featuring the 19-year-old Mozart at his elegant, witty and beguilingly changeable best, to the Sinfonia Concertante the string concerto masterpiece with its masterly mixture of noble strength and tender lyricism, these are some of Mozarts most well-known and best-loved works. Handel and Haydn Society with their inspirational Concertmaster, Aisslinn Nosky, bring Mozarts musical magic to life in these live recordings from Bostons glorious Symphony Hall.
It’s no small feat to record Mozart Violin Concertos in such a way as to add something new and meaningful to the existing pile, but that’s precisely what’s been done with this first installment of a new recorded cycle from the period instrument Handel and Haydn Society and its concertmaster Aisslinn Nosky.
Live-recorded at Boston Symphony Hall, this programme presenting the third and fourth concertos alongside the Sinfonia Concertante is absolutely cracking. First to hit your ears is the combination of softly polished tone, crisp articulation and joyousness coming from the ensemble, further warmed by the hall’s own glowing acoustic. Next comes the fluid elegance, personal warmth and droll humour from Nosky; in fact listen in closely and you’ll hear her witty inflections being enjoyed by the audience too. Then there’s the scoring details they’re making you hear with fresh ears, such as the flutes dreamily floating their way over the top of the strings at the start of No. 3’s Adagio.
As for the Sinfonia Concertante, it’s not just the feeling of a genuinely sparkling conversation going on between Nosky and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment co-principal Max Mandel that has you reaching for the repeat button (although listen to the way they’re bouncing off each other in the first movement’s answering phases, and their deliciously cheeky joint glissandi). It’s also the sheer degree of instinctive fluid flow and life to it all, to the extent that I’m not sure whether I’ve ever previously heard such a gloriously freewheeling, borderline-wild final movement.
If this is a taster of what’s to come, then Volume 2 can’t arrive soon enough.