Mozart: Violin Concertos Nos. 4 and 5 London Symphony Orchestra & Nikolaj Znaider

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791): Violin Concerto No. 4 in D Major, K. 218:
• 1 I. Allegro 09:52
• 2 II. Andante cantabile 10:24
• 3 III. Rondo: Andante grazioso 08:23
• Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major, K. 219 "Turkish":
• 4 I. Allegro aperto - Adagio - Allegro aperto 08:36
• 5 II. Adagio 06:20
• 6 III. Tempo di menuetto 06:50
• Total Runtime 50:25

Info for Mozart: Violin Concertos Nos. 4 and 5

Nikolaj Znaider performs at the highest level as both conductor and virtuoso violin soloist, and for this album, the first of two releases exploring all five Mozart violin concertos, he directed the London Symphony Orchestra from his instrument, the ‘Kreisler’ Guarnerius ‘del Gesu’ 1741.

Whilst Mozart’s five violin concertos were all written when he was a teenager, there is no denying that the young composer’s growth in confidence and maturity is audible. A step up from his Third, Mozart’s Fourth violin concerto allows the instrument to take the lead, his orchestra providing a supporting role. Widely considered the most ‘grown up’ of his violin concertos, Mozart’s Fifth finishes with a spirited rondo, its solo’s leaping notes and exotic ornamentation leading to its nickname, ‘Turkish.’

Speaking of his admiration for these works, Znaider said: ‘For me Mozart is the greatest composer, because he was able to express everything that Mahler was able to express in one hour and twenty minutes, that Wagner could do in five hours, Bruckner in seventy-two minutes, in twenty-three, twenty-four minutes. He could express the yearning and the desire and the pain of human existence and yet it felt so easy.’

Nikolaj Znaider, violin, conductor
London Symphony Orchestra

Nikolaj Znaider
performs at the highest level as both conductor and virtuoso violin soloist with the world’s most distinguished orchestras. He has been Principal Guest Conductor of the Mariinsky Orchestra Saint Petersburg since 2010, and was previously Principal Guest Conductor of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra.

Following a triumphant return to the Tanglewood Festival with the Boston Symphony and Juanjo Mena, the 2017/18 season sees Znaider continue his Mozart recording project with the London Symphony Orchestra with the second and third concertos directed from the violin. He has a particularly strong relationship with the LSO; an orchestra he conducts and performs as soloist with every season. Their recording of Mozart’s Violin Concertos 4 and 5 will be released on the LSO Live label in March 2018. Working at the highest level as both as conductor and as soloist, Znaider appears regularly with orchestras such as the Staatskapelle Dresden, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and Chicago Symphony.

Znaider’s extensive discography includes the Nielsen Concerto with Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic, Elgar Concerto in B minor with the late Sir Colin Davis and the Staatskapelle Dresden, award-winning recordings of the Brahms and Korngold concertos with Valery Gergiev and the Vienna Philharmonic, the Beethoven and Mendelssohn concertos with Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic, the Prokofiev Concerto No. 2 and Glazunov Concerto with Mariss Jansons and the Bavarian Radio Symphony, and the Mendelssohn Concerto on DVD with Riccardo Chailly and the Gewandhaus Orchestra. Znaider has also recorded the complete works of Brahms for violin and piano with Yefim Bronfman.

He is passionate about supporting the next generation of musical talent and spent ten years as Founder and Artistic Director of the annual Nordic Music Academy summer school, and is now President of the Nielsen Competition, which takes place every three years in Odense, Denmark.

Nikolaj Znaider plays the “Kreisler” Guarnerius “del Gesu” 1741 on extended loan to him by The Royal Danish Theater through the generosity of the VELUX Foundations, the Villum Fonden and the Knud Højgaard Foundation.

This album contains no booklet.