Among the many recordings of the complete Mozart Violin Concertos, this one, with the late Iona Brown directing the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields from the violin, has lain dormant for far too long.
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
Violin Concerto No. 4 in D major, KV 218
Violin Concerto No. 2 in D major, KV 211
Sinfonia Concertante in E flat major for Violin, Viola & Orchestra, KV 364
Iona Brown, violin & conductor
Josef Suk, viola [Sinfonia Concertante]
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
Recording producer: Chris Hazell
Recording engineers: Stanley Goodall (No. 2, Sinfonia Concertante); Colin Moorfoot, Dan Gosling (No. 4)
Recording locations: Walthamstow Assembly Hall, London, July 1983 (No. 2, Sinfonia Concertante); Unitarian Church, Rosslyn Hill, London, March 1979 (No. 4)
‘Josef Suk also has a long-standing familiarity with this marvellous work [KV 364], but as violinist. Here he partners Iona Brown on the viola: and what a splendid team they make!… the performance as a whole is noble and dignified… The couplings may simplify the difficult question of choice (if a choice has to be made). Iona Brown gives an absolutely ravishing account of the second of the five violin concertos… thus completing her recording of these works, a series which is outstanding for its freshness and spontaneity in a highly-competitive field. As before, the ASMF respond instinctively to her skilled direction, and the recording is exemplary’ Gramophone
‘a freshness and vigour that is winning … all these performances have an engaging liveliness and are very well integrated’ *** Penguin Guide