Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Thomas Zehetmair is one of the most significant violinists of his generation. He enjoys a successful international career thrilling audiences and critics with his abilities as a soloist, chamber musician and conductor.

As violinist Thomas Zehetmair is a regular guest of the most renowned European and American orchestras as well as leading conductors of the day. He dedicates a large part of his artistic activities to contemporary music and has a second career as a conductor as well as working with leading chamber musicians such as Pierre-Laurent Aimard.

Thomas Zehetmair has recorded nearly the entire violin repertoire on CD, more recently on a number of different labels but in the early part of his career in the 1990’s he made many recordings for Teldec as celebrated in this box set.

The relatively novel instrumental combination which Mozart used for his string quintets (employing two violas) seems to have been inspired by a work by his friend and colleague Michael Haydn. Throughout his life Mozart loved the dusky sonority of the viola, always his instrument of choice when he played chamber music with friends. Beyond that, prompted by Michael Haydn’s charming, lightweight Notturno, he was evidently eager to explore a medium that enabled him to indulge his fondness for dark, saturated textures and rich inner-part writing.

The complete String Quintets is a enchanting body of chamber music, recorded here in a 3-disc set by the peerless Nash Ensemble.

Catherine Mackintosh and Geoffrey Govier formed Duo Amadè in order to perform the charming and intimate works for keyboard and violin by Mozart in concert, often with readings from his family letters. In 2006 Duo Amadè performed the whole cycle at the Royal College of Music. Catherine Mackintosh in particular has long been recognised as a pioneering early music spirit and in recording the complete cycle of duo sonatas is fulfilling the ambition of a lifetime.

The First Volume (CHAN0755) of Duo Sonatas was released in late 2008, being made an ‘Editor’s Choice’ by Gramophone in recognition of its musicality and ‘historically informed performance’. The Second Volume (CHAN0764) was a ‘Critics’ Choice’ in the December 2009 issue of the same magazine, Duncan Druce writing: ‘I’ve been enjoying the infectiously enthusiastic music-making on Duo Amadè’s second volume of Mozart sonatas. In these wonderful works, Geoffrey Govier and Catherine Mackintosh give the instrumental dialogue the wit and verve of a spirited operatic exchange.’

In this third collection of sonatas, featuring KV 376, KV 378, and KV 526, Duo Amadè once again offers performances of similar spirit and style.

Geoffrey Govier plays a fortepiano made by Christopher Clarke in Cluny, after an instrument by Anton Walter, while Catherine Mackintosh plays a violin by Giovanni Grancino, dating from 1703. These instruments bring a lightness and freshness of articulation to these delightful works, entirely in keeping with the spirit of enlightenment in which the sonatas were written.

Full track-list and synopsis in English, German and French

The Russian violinist Dmitry Sitkovetsky is an exceptional soloist and has also recently become an exciting conductor. This budget priced CD set brings together all of his previous recordings of Mozart’s Sonatas as well as the missing ones form the cycle. Interestingly, we encounter Antonio Pappano as accompanist, rather than in his role as Music Director of the Royal Opera House.