Leopold Mozart: Trumpet Concerto in D major


00:00 first movement

04:47 second movement, allegro moderato

We call this work a trumpet concerto, but if it is, it is certainly highly unusual. Its two movements are actually part of a serenade that is comprised of nine movements. In some editions the first movement sometimes has the incorrect indication "adagio", in some others "andante". The manuscript however has no such indication for this movement. (It does for the second movement, where allegro moderato is written.)

With this piece we leave the baroque behind us. I see in it a kind of Stile Galant, although I imagine many musicologists would probably contracict on that. The themes of the first movement have a weightless elegance, and even the flourishes and upward scales of the second movement sound more playfull than pompous.

As inspiration for my cadenza at the end of the first movement I looked at some figures in the piece. Hopefully these will not be immediately recognizable – not because I'm trying to hide something. Mozart handled these themes well already. They don't need my meddling. I was looking for material that would fit the style but also give me the chance to build in a little chromaticism, inasfar as the notes available to the natural trumpet allows.


es spielen:

Violine: Daniela Gubatz, Kaori Kobayashi, Alexander Ramm, Ingrid Richter, Isabel Schau (concertmaster)

Viola: Ingrid Rohrmoser, Lea Strecker

Violoncello: Patrick Sepec

Kontrabass: Annette Rheinfurth

Harpsichord: Arno Schneider

Horn: Guillermo Izquierdo, Aki Yamauchi