This album was recorded in July 2023 at the Brandenburger Theater, featuring Sibylle Mahni on horn and the Brandenburger Symphoniker conducted by Andreas Spering.
Performer Biography
Sibylle Mahni, the horn soloist, was principal horn in the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra from 1997 to 2016 and now teaches at the Hochschule für Musik Berlin 'Hanns Eisler'.
Compositional Technique
In the 1791 Horn Concerto KV 412, Mozart deliberately avoided technical difficulties and very high notes, acknowledging that the horn player Joseph Ignaz Leutgeb's abilities were declining with age.
Interpretation
Conductor Andreas Spering views Mozart's instrumental works as rooted in his operas, believing the music requires a delicate balance, like holding a canary, where carelessness is unforgiving.
Composition History
Mozart composed a horn concerto for Joseph Ignaz Leutgeb in 1787, but only after Leutgeb agreed to Mozart's condition of kneeling behind an unheated stove during the composition process.
Composer Biography
Joseph Ignaz Leutgeb, a horn player in the Salzburg Court Orchestra and friend of the Mozart family, was the dedicatee of Mozart's horn concertos, with the last one, KV 412, remaining unfinished.
Composer's Artistic Vision
For horn player Sibylle Mahni, Mozart's music combines a pleasing aesthetic with great emotionality, and his horn concertos contain many echoes of his operas like Così fan tutte and Die Zauberflöte.
