Mozart: Horn Concertos – Martin Owen

Regarded as one of Europe’s leading horn players, Martin Owen appears as a soloist and chamber musician all around the world. He currently holds the position of principal horn at the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, and Haffner Wind Ensemble, having served as principal horn of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and, on a temporary contract, as solo horn of the Berliner Philharmoniker.

Mozart composed all of these pieces for the virtuoso horn player Joseph Leutgeb (or Leitgeb) (1732 – 1811). Leutgeb was born in Vienna and established his reputation as a soloist there before working in Salzburg, where Mozart made his acquaintance.

Martin Owen writes: ‘In this recording, we have attempted to portray a more youthful vigour in the earlier works (indeed, of Joseph Leutgeb himself, for whom they were written) compared to the Concerto in D, in many ways a swan song for both soloist and composer, in which I hope our performance shows more depth of tone and a higher level of maturity. I was intrigued by the fact that in 1990, sixty bars of music were uncovered in a Sotheby’s auction, which were later confirmed as belonging to the concert Rondeau, KV 371 – when I was young, I only knew the work without these bars and always felt that there was too abrupt a change into the next section! Now it makes complete sense.’