Mozart: Flute Concertos – Anna Besson

In 1777, Mozart met the wealthy Ferdinand Dejean, an amateur flautist and retired surgeon of the Dutch East India Company. Dejean commissioned a handful of works from the young composer, who termed them ‘some simple, short little concertinos’. Nevertheless, these pieces, which actually demand great virtuosity from the soloist, as well as a sensitivity to tonal nuances, have continued to be popular favourites ever since. A short while later, during his stay in Paris, Mozart wrote a further concerto, this time for a flute-playing aristocrat and his harpist daughter to perform as a duo of soloists – both of them ‘admirable musicians’ according to Mozart. Unlike Dejean, this noble virtuoso had an up-to-date instrument with eight keys, allowing the flute to reach down to middle C, and to play in the – hitherto impractical – key of C. Supported by A Nocte Temporis, the ensemble that she founded in 2016 with Reinoud Van Mechelen, flautist Anna Besson, now one of the most acclaimed instrumentalists of her generation, has recorded these evergreen works, with solo harpist extraordinaire Clara Izambert joining her in the Concerto for Flute and Harp.