Jean-Efflam Bavouzet’s first three volumes of Mozart concertos with the Manchester Camerata and Gábor Takács-Nagy have been received with widespread acclaim, and so it’s with some excitement that we release the keenly anticipated fourth instalment in the series. Composed within just one month in early 1785, these two concertos are among the most popular of all of Mozart’s piano concertos. No. 20, K 466, was his first concerto in a minor key, and it’s dark and stormy nature contrasts the light and sunny feeling of concerto no.21. As with so many of his piano concertos, both works were composed for the Vienna concert series, and given their premiere performances with Mozart at the keyboard. The two concertos are interspersed on this recording with a vivid performance of the Don Giovanni Overture, which further demonstrates the exemplary playing of the Manchester Camerata.

Members of the Brodsky Quartet meet the internationally famous flautist Lisa Friend in an album of key works of the flute repertoire: Mozart's flute quartets. Highly praised for previous recordings, her own compositions, solo recitals in Europe, the US, and Asia, as well as appearances with prestigious orchestras, Lisa Friend devotes her very first recording on Chandos to witty, colorful interpretations or Mozart. The flute quartets of Mozart are central to the classical flute repertoire - and deservedly so: the composer's characteristic charm, wit, beauty, and elegance are in evidence throughout. These works convincingly embody Mozart's desire to compose music that engages trained musicians, while also entrancing lay listeners without their necessarily knowing, precisely why.

This disc marks the conclusion of the five-volume series. ‘Engaging performances that gently seduce the listener… so alluring and believable it feels as though one has travelled back in time in a musical Tardis' wrote Classic FM of Vol. 4. In this final volume, featuring the sonatas KV 454 and KV 547, Duo Amadè once again offers historically informed performances

On this disc, the Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge performs Mozart’s ‘Coronation Mass’ alongside four distinguished soloists and the period instrument ensemble St John’s Sinfonia. Notably, soprano Susan Gritton has amassed a vast discography that has earned her two Grammy nominations and includes, for Chandos, recordings of works by Haydn, Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Vaughan Williams. The ‘Coronation’ Mass achieved great renown after its performance at the Imperial Coronation in Prague, which took place nine months after Mozart’s death. The opulence of the Gloria, in particular, is unmistakable, and the alternations between soloists and choir add drama to the text, which Mozart scored with operatic clarity. Here the choir forcefully praises and glorifies, while the soloists more intimately bless and worship. Also on this disc is Susan Gritton’s first-ever recorded performance of Mozart’s dramatic solo cantata Exsultate jubilate, and a motet for the Feast of Corpus Christi, Ave verum corpus.

His 18 piano sonatas can be described as the secret stars of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's extensive oeuvre. They were often important areas of experimentation, which in Mozart's short biography describe a development from early rococo to classical maturity, in which he explored new compositional techniques and then later transferred these to the larger genres. This is exemplified by the three works now recorded by Amy Lin in her familiar sensitive manner: the Sonata K. 333 emphasizes the lyrical and pastoral. In K. 284, the 18-year-old composer establishes the alternation between 'quasi-tutti' based on the orchestral writing and soloistic passages in dialogue-like interplay. The famous C minor Sonata K. 457, which Beethoven admired so much, shows a completely different, darkly dramatic tone and thus Mozart's fascinating stylistic diversity in this genre as well.

All horn concertos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, performed historically informed by Sibylle Mahni and the Brandenburger Symphoniker.