RADEK BABORÁK’S

On 5 October 2018, Supraphon will release a double album, capturing the performance of Radek Baborák, the Baborák Ensemble, the hornist Radovan Vlatković, the oboist Clara Dent-Bogányi, the flautist Walter Auer and the bassoonist Bence Bogányi of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Sinfonia concertante and music for horn.

For the new album, made with his Baborák Ensemble, the horn player and conductor Radek Baborák has adapted the sinfonia’s unused movement to complete the missing parts of the unfinished horn concerto. Something that Mozart himself did on numerous occasions. In this manner, Baborák has created two “new horn concertos” from the preserved fragments. Splendidly fitting in the context of rediscovery is the fabulous Sinfonia concertante for four wind instruments and orchestra, K 297b. The new album features Baborák’s arran­gement for the original configuration scored by Mozart himself. The solo parts were undertaken by virtuoso players from Europe’s finest orchestras. In 12 horn duets – the one and only piece on the recording completely preserved in the original instrumentation – Baborák’s partner is another phenomenal contemporary hornist, Radovan Vlatković, who since 2014 has been an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music in London.

“Mozart’s Sinfonia for winds is shrouded in a number of mysteries. In the first place, it is not known whether the piece is the one Wolfgang Amadeus composed and mentioned in a letter to his father during his stay in Paris, in which he also named the soloists and praised the virtuoso Czech hornist Stich-Punto, who, as Mozart put it, played excellently. When reconstructing the new version, I strove to retain the original instrumentation, intended for the flute, oboe, horn and bassoon, in line with Mozart’s score. At the same time, we wanted to preserve the form of sinfonia, as we know it from the configuration with the clarinet, as well as to balance the difficulties of the parts, so each of the players would be afforded the opportunity to showcase their virtuosity and the potentialities of the respective instruments,” said Radek Baborák, adding: “I hope that we have succeeded in getting close to Mr. Mozart, as all of us, my friends-musicians and I, both as soloists and as an ensemble, had a great time when recording the album. That makes me really happy!”

The album featuring W. A. Mozart’s Sinfonia concertante and horn concertos, as performed by Radek Baborák, the Baborák Ensemble and their guests, will be released on 5 October 2018 on 2 CDs and in digital formats.