This 2024 release is part of the
Alpha
label's "Next Generation Mozart Soloists" series, intended to showcase up-and-coming players. As such, it contains a rather random selection of
Mozart
works, although the strikingly sectional and rather rare
Rondo in D major for piano and orchestra, K. 382
, is a welcome find in the performance by pianist
Ariel Lanyi
. Taken singly, though (as many listeners will doubtless hear this material in the streaming era), these performances offer much to enjoy. The roughly 30 players of the
Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg
under conductor
Howard Griffiths
deliver welcome heft, and the various soloists respond with distinctive performances that fill the musical space. The strongest is arguably hornist
Alexandre Zanetta
, who isn't afraid to let some expressive squawks escape from his instrument in the
Horn Concerto No.2 in E flat major, K. 417
. Violinist
Johan Dalene
and violist
Eivind Ringstad
deliver an above-average reading of the much-recorded
Sinfonia Concertante for violin, viola, and orchestra in E flat major, K. 364
, with gutsy, expressive solo parts balancing the big orchestral sound, and enhanced by their instruments, a
Stradivarius
on
Dalene
's part and a marvelous 1676
Guarneri
for
Ringstad
. Are these indeed the next generation of
soloists? There is a lot here that answers the question in the affirmative. ~ James Manheim