horn player, I have several recordings of the Mozart set, including (of course) Brain & a couple of Barry Tuckwell's but Halstead's version is a bit special.

Between 1783 and 1787, Mozart completed three horn concertos. And who better to present these works than one of the undisputed greats of the instrument, Dennis Brain, whose career was so tragically cut short in a car crash when he was just 36? As a lapsed (failed?) It was left to one of Mozart’s pupils, Franz Xaver Süssmayr, to complete the last movement. He began composing a fourth concerto, K412, during the last summer of his life but only succeeded in finishing the first movement and part of the finale by the time of his death in 1791.

The goal of this arrangement is to be logistically practical for a recital while providing an accompaniment that is both idiomatic and satisfying. He began composing a fourth concerto, K412, during the last summer of his life but only succeeded in finishing the first movement and part of the finale by the time of his death in 1791. Horn players often use the Mozart Concerti as recital pieces—with piano—but both the concerti and the pianists suffer as a result. Mozart's horn concertos are the first great essays in the medium, and even within the four you can trace a clear development in terms of sophistication and technical difficulty. The goal of this arrangement is to be logistically practical for a recital while providing an accompaniment that is both idiomatic and satisfying. The goal of this arrangement is to be logistically practical for a recital while providing an accompaniment that is both idiomatic and satisfying. Horn players often use the Mozart Concerti as recital pieces—with piano—but both the concerti and the pianists suffer as a result. Horn players often use the Mozart Concerti as recital pieces—with piano—but both the concerti and the pianists suffer as a result.

Between 1783 and 1787, Mozart completed three horn concertos. It was left to one of Mozart’s pupils, Franz Xaver Süssmayr, to complete the last movement.