Mozart's Horn Concerto K. 495 is notable for being written in four different colored inks: red, green, blue, and black, not to confuse the soloist but to dynamically highlight individual parts.
Composition History
Mozart wrote his horn concertos in his spare time for his friend Joseph Leutgeb, a horn player who had been a friend of the Mozart family for years.
Composition History
One of Mozart's horn concertos (K. 370b/371) was nearly lost, but most of its separate pages, given away as souvenirs by Mozart's son, have been recovered, with the most recent find in 1989.
Composer Biography
Mozart, despite his headstrong and undiplomatic adult personality, was surprisingly organized, maintaining a detailed inventory of his works from 1784.
Compositional Technique
Süssmayr's completion of Mozart's K. 412 finale included a charming plainchant quotation from the Lamentations of Jeremiah, a traditional Holy Week music well-known to audiences of the time.
Composition History
The finale of Mozart's D major Concerto, K. 412, was completed by Franz Xaver Süssmayr after Mozart's death, as the incomplete score had the potential to generate much-needed income for Mozart's family.
Performer Biography
Michael Thompson, the horn player on this recording, was appointed principal horn of the Philharmonia at age twenty-one and has since pursued a busy international career as a soloist and chamber musician.
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Mozart: Serenade, K. 375; Serenade, K. 388 'Nacht Musik'; Beethoven: Octet, Op. 103
Mozart: Concerto for Two Pianos, K. 365, Concerto for Flute and Harp, K. 299 & Horn Concerto, K. 447 (Alpha Collection)
