Mozart: Horn Concerto No. 3 in E flat major, K447

Of the various wind instruments, it was the natural horn which proved to be the one most favoured by Mozart in his solo instrumental music. Four concertos and a plentiful quantity of chamber scores in which the horn plays the leading role testify to that.Without doubt all this derived from the friendship between the composer and Joseph Leutgeb, a virtuoso player almost 25 years his senior, and who, on a number of occasions, ended up as the target for well-meaning jokes and taunts from Mozart, as is explained in the booklet to this disc. Teunis van der Zwart is one of the world's leading specialists on his instrument today, and here he is joined by other members from the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century for the chamber music (the Quintet, A Musical Joke, the duos), and by the full orchestra conducted by Frans Brüggen for the Horn Concerto, KV477 and for an aria from Mitridate, re di Ponto, which also features the starry vocal talents of North American soprano Claron McFadden. In recordings made between 2006 and 2008 Brüggen and the musicians of his now legendary ensemble once more prove themselves to be on magnificent form in creating a further disc of reference.

The Four Mozart Horn Concertos must surely rank among the composer's most popular works. This new recording, featuring the two Browns, Timothy and Iona, do this music proud. Classics Today writes: “The disc's several pluses include Iona Brown's excitingly propulsive accompaniments, the inclusion of an alternate finale to K. 412 completed by John Humphries as well as the Concert Rondo K. 371, and Hänssler's sonics, which are first rate.”