"Bravo Mozart!" exclaimed Emperor Joseph II as he stood up and tipped his hat at the end of the first performance of Piano Concerto No. 18 KV 456 , played by Mozart himself on 30 September 1784. Less than a year later, the composer pens his iconic 21st concerto, which is performed here by the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg conducted by Howard Griffiths, and pianist Jonathan Fournel. Winner of the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2021, the French pianist has already made a Brahms recording for Alpha (ALPHA851). At the age of 30, he is developing a highly promising career, impressing audiences at every one of his concerts.

Alongside the flourishing musical life of Germany’s numerous courts and princely seats, which were of equal cultural eminence with the autonomous »free cities« of the Holy Roman Empire, the country’s cultural landscape became further enriched in the last two-thirds of the 18th century by a burgeoning enthusiasm for concert-going among the middle classes. The Prussian capital, Berlin, came to play a special role in this respect because the young kingdom had in Frederick II (the third monarch to be honoured with the sobriquet »the Great«) a ruler who was particularly fond of music. However, the capital subsequently lost out when, long before he became known as »old Fritz«, the young Frederick transferred his courtly household from Berlin to Potsdam. There he presided over a men’s music club and »put on chamber concerts every evening, in which he usually played flute concertos composed by himself«, as described in Nikolaus Forkel’s biography of Johann Sebastian Bach, where we read of the visit by »old Bach« to his son, Carl Philipp Emanuel, then employed as »chamber harpsichordist« to the Prussian king.

The Orpheum Foundation, which has been supporting young musicians for more than thirty years, has joined forces with Alpha Classics for a series of recordings devoted to Mozart’s concertos for various instruments. The finest soloists of the young generation have been selected under the artistic direction of Howard Griffiths, a renowned Mozart conductor, who considers that playing his music is like ‘looking in a mirror: you can hear if everything is in place, musicality, intonation, rhythm, phrasing’.

The Orpheum Foundation, which has been supporting young musicians for more than thirty years, has joined forces with Alpha Classics for a complete series of recordings devoted to Mozart's solo concertos. The best soloists of the young generation have been selected under the artistic direction of Howard Griffiths, a renowned Mozart conductor, who considers that playing his music is like "looking in a mirror: you can hear if everything is right, musicality, intonation, rhythm, phrasing"… These albums will immortalize this unforgiving challenge and reveal the great virtuosos of tomorrow. Performing concertos for violin, bassoon and piano, with Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, are Ziyu He, Theo Plath and Mélodie Zhao.

Mendelssohn is a challenge, because his music appears to be so deceptively easy,” says the pianist Claire Huangci, speaking about her new album. Together with violinist Marc Bouchkov she has recorded works by Mendelssohn for violin and piano: the two Violin Sonatas in F – one major, one minor – and the Double Concerto in D minor.