Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
The Horn Concertos
No.1 in D K412;
No.2 in E flat K417;
No.3 in E flat K447;
No 4 in E flat K495
Concerto movement in E K494A;
Concerto in E flat K370B/371;
No.1 in D K412 (first movement) with Mozart’s original text
Herman Jeurissen (horn)
Netherlands Chamber Orchestra/Roy Goodman
rec. 20-23 November 1996, Beurs van Berlage, Amsterdam.
BRILLIANT CLASSICS 94644 [79:22]
This generously filled CD was first issued on Olympia
OCD 470 but has been picked up several times under licensing arrangements
made with Brilliant Classics. It now makes a very welcome return to
the catalogue and will bear repeat reissues in the future.
Jeurissen, Goodman and the orchestra, complete with nicely rendered
harpsichord, are perfectly in style: a genial blend of enchantment,
panache and poetry. Jeurissen is very much at the centre and most points
of the compass here yet with no suggestion of stifling Mozart. In the
first movement of No. 2 the soloist’s legato legerdemain is a
complete joy to hear: try 5:12. This is not for the last or only time.
We hear the four numbered horn concertos plus a concerto movement completed
by Jeurissen and a two-movement E Flat concerto also realised by the
soloist in the form of a nicely rounded Allegro and a Rondeau
allegro likewise. The First Concerto is again in Jeurissen's instrumentation.
We end with something of a shock with a reprise of the Rondo Allegro
of No. 1 with Mozart’s original text sung/spoken over the top
in a lively Figaro-style performance by Giorgio Mereu. Jeurissen
wrote the notes - all five pages of them.
This is the fullest account of Mozart’s music for horn and orchestra.
Even so Jeurissen modestly emphasises that such work can never bear
comparison with genuine Mozart. Even so it is good to add to the store
of Mozartean music. One wonders how often we have heard the work of
editors and completers rather than the composer's original and have
hailed it as the genuine article - we think we know and a world of academics
encourage or discourage us accordingly. As it is Jeurissen sounds convincing
and totally in fidelity. If you are a Doubting Thomas let those doubts
be evaporated by the last and overwhelmingly ebullient pages of the
Rondo of No. 2 (tr. 3).
Rob Barnett
