Mozart Serenades Harnoncourt

In 1953, Nikolaus Harnoncourt founded the Concentus Musicus with colleagues from Karajan’s Vienna Symphony Orchestra. His “ancient music” ensemble never pursued a revolution: “Musicology and historical instruments are not an end in themselves”, says Harnoncourt, “I prefer an interpretation that is historically uninformed but musically alive.” After decades playing and recording Baroque works on historical instruments, he extended his repertoire to Classic, Romantic and 20th-Century music, conducting Europe’s top “modern” orchestras. “Mozart was no innovator, but his personal style has an unfathomable grandeur. Whoever plays his music with a modern orchestra must absolutely explore the original sound characteristics.” This box set highlights both Harnoncourt’s recordings with the Concentus’ ancient instrumentarium, and his new approach with Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, always historically informed, groundbreaking, brimming with emotion.

Recorded at the Golden Hall in the Musikverein Vienna in 2012, this is two of the most important works of Mozart’s ‘middle’ period that Harnoncourt has never recorded with a period-instrument orchestra before. Harnoncourt is well known for his unique interpretation of Mozart and this is reflected by the highly flexible playing and phrasing from the orchestra. This album marks the 60th anniversary of the collaboration between Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Concentus Musicus Wien.

The oldest active orchestra of the classical world, the Staatskapelle Dresden always surrounded itself with conductors and soloists of talent throughout its long history. This beautiful collection of classical era recordings features Sabine Meyer, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Christian Zacharias, Neville Marriner, Peter Schreier and Edda Moser. It includes concertos, sacred music, arias and various orchestral pieces such as serenades conducted by Harnoncourt which are available for the first time digitally.