Previously unreleased broadcast recordings capture Thomas Jensen in Baroque and Classical-era repertoire new to his discography. Jensen makes a stylish Mozartian in these rhythmically sprung and cultivated concert performances, given by the DRSO in Copenhagen and on tour. They are joined by the Danish violinist Tutter Givskov for one of Mozart’s earliest masterpieces, the Violin Concerto No. 3 K216.

The cellist Christian-Pierre La Marca always has something to surprise us with: hybrid programs mixing genres and pushing toward musical frontiers, guests who add to an already rich repertoire, and a keen, passionate vision of both music and the world. The title and the composers of his new album may appear “classical”, but his recording, effectively rooted in eighteenth century Vienna, nevertheless once again broadens the horizons and encourages us to see things differently. “I wanted this program to introduce new ways of listening to Haydn’s concertos,” he explains. “Legacy focuses on passing down rather than inheriting – the benevolence of one generation for the next, encounters between musicians who are also enablers, the progression of the instrument in the music.”

Haydn’s creative imagination was stimulated by eminent Italian composers such as Porpora and Scarlatti and by his contemporary C.P.E. Bach, whose piano sonatas Haydn had performed. Through Georg Wagenseil, an important figure in Viennese music for the piano, he also absorbed a new sense of musical form. Together, these influences generated Haydn’s own individual language, as shown in the Sonata in C major with its elegance and wit. The Andante con variazioni in F minor shows further refinement and development in the composer’s command of variation form. Alexandra Ivanova performs on fortepianos from Haydn’s era.

The genesis of the oratorio The Seven Last Words of Christ is one of the most exciting stories in music history. In 1786, Haydn (who by then was already a famous composer throughout Europe) was commissioned by José Saluz de Santamaria, a priest from Cadiz, to write a piece of purely instrumental music for Holy Week. The maestro himself considered the piece to be one of his finest achievements. The instrument on this recording is a copy of an instrument made in 1805 by Viennese fortepiano maker Anton Walter.