Mozart: Horn Concerto No. 4 in E flat major, K495

“self-recommending. Boyd Neel once said that Dennis was the finest Mozart player on any instrument.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

“Gottfried von der Goltz, a very talented conductor, clear-sightedly balances his sharp-witted period instrument forces… Mostly, von der Goltz adapts to individual interpretations without sacrificing his own strengths; and they scintillate in his partnership with Teunis Van der Zwart whose brazen tones, piquant stopped notes and swaggering gait in the horn concertos are irresistible.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2007

“Van der Zwart responds with great humour and technical panache to these good-natured works. (He is especially amusing exploiting the flatulence of extreme low notes in the first-movement cadenza of No 4.)… Von der Goltz's robust, earthy way with Mozart, bringing this music out of the salon and into the open air, sets the seal on this outstanding issue.” Sunday Times Classical CD of the Week

“Van der Zwart's supreme agility makes the added technical challenges of using that instrument hardly relevant, and the whole performance has a lightness of touch and an athletic exuberance that are totally convincing.” The Guardian

“Paul Meyer… plays beautifully, with smooth, silken tone, immaculate dynamic control and unfailingly sensitive phrasing. …in the lightweight Oboe Concerto. Françoise Leleux gives a thoroughly delightful performance, sweet and pure of tone, nimble of articulation and relishing the work's airy grace and puckish wit. ...David Guerrier shows himself equally accomplished on the horn and trumpet. His beauty of tone and subtle control of colour create the best case for Leopold's potentially tedious Trumpet Concerto. But while his refined, understated approach to the Horn Concerto K495 (the one with the finale immortalised by Flanders and Swann) brings rewards in the first two movements, it does slightly mute the finale's fun and mischief.” Gramophone Magazine, April 2006

“self-recommending. Boyd Neel once said that Dennis was the finest Mozart player on any instrument.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

“Thompson has established himself at once among my favorite exponents of these irresistible compositions.” Fanfare

“This isn't just an excellent bargain version of the horn concertos, superbly played and recorded, but a valuable example of Mozartian scholarship on disc. Michael Thompson, directing the Bournemouth Sinfonietta with point and flair, plays the four regular concertos in revised texts prepared by John Humphries, as well as offering reconstructions by Humphries of two movements, designed as the outer movements, an Allegro, K370b and a Rondo, K371, for an earlier horn concerto written soon after Mozart arrived in Vienna. The Rondo played here as the second- movement finale of K412 is Humphries' reconstruction from recently discovered sources, and is much more imaginative than the Süssmayr version. It's a revelation too in the most popular of the concertos, No-4, to have extra passages, again adding Mozartian inventiveness.
For example, the tutti in the first movement before the development section is extended in a charming few extra bars. Thompson, for 10 years the Philharmonia's first horn, isn't only technically brilliant, but plays with delectable lightness and point, bringing out the wit in finales, and the tenderness in slow movements.
As conductor and director, he also draws sparkling and refined playing from the Sinfonietta, very well recorded in clear, atmospheric sound.
An outstanding issue for both specialist and newcomer alike.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Michael Thompson plays with delectable lightness and point, bringing out the wit in the finales, as well as the tenderness in slow movements. He also draws sparkling playing from the Bournemouth Sinfonietta...an ideal modern successor to the vintage Dennis Brain versions.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition