Mozart – Violin Concertos Nos. 1, 2 & 5

Throughout the history of music, Mozart’s Violin Concertos Nos. 1 and 2, K.207 and K.211, have generally been described as the “minor” concertos. Indeed, both as compositions and as far as the treatment of the violin is concerned, they do clearly stand out against the “major” Concertos K.216, K.218 and K.219: however, this is not necessarily mirrored in the length of these two works. Rather, one notices in both earlier concertos the distinctive influence of Italian violin virtuosos of the Baroque.
In the violin part there are virtuoso semiquaver and even demisemiquaver passages, which are nowhere to be seen in the later concertos. In both cases, the tempo indication of the first movement also includes a “Moderato”, apart from the usual “Allegro”, which gives the basic tempo a rather Baroque-like character. Both the viola and the cello parts are less independent than in the later concertos. After all, the independence of both these instrumental groups in the orchestra is a result of the development in composition techniques during the Classical period, which is expressed in the three later concertos. All these characteristics motivated us to record the Concertos K.207 and K.211 with the accompaniment of a harpsichord.
Julia Fischer and Yakov Kreizberg