Renaud Capuçon and the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra have released an attractive set of Mozart's music for solo violin and orchestra, recorded in 2022. An elegant set of the young Mozart's five concertos. Solo violin and orchestra are integrated and reasonably well-balanced. Renaud Capuçon's slender, elegant sound is arguably right for this kind of music; young Mozart does not need a mega international soloist showing off in what is, basically, enhanced chamber music. On my equipment, I found Capuçon's violin often sounding somewhat thin in the upper reaches.
I enjoyed much of Capuçon's playing; I admired the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra. I liked the well-balanced recording. An achievement in this somewhat over-familiar music. I used to play the solo part of the last three concertos, and I must have over 30 different recordings of each concerto on my shelves. No matter; if you want Mozart's complete music for violin and chamber orchestra, this set is a good addition, even going back seventy-odd years to Arthur Grumiaux and colleagues.
However, given the ferocious competition, these are just one of a large number of competing performances; my shelves hold 39 different recordings of the A major concerto K. 219 alone. For each individual concerto, I suspect I could delve into my collection and find performances more to my taste. Tempi are on the brisk side, and I often wish the musicians would relax a little and simply enjoy the music. The first movement of the D major concerto K. 218, for example, comes across as somewhat brusque, and the following slow movement could do with a more relaxed tempo. Sometimes one feels that "historical correctness" is getting in the way of the performances.
The many cadenzas are in good taste, but there are far too many of them for my taste. I know cadenzas are historically correct, but I prefer them to be short and confined to the first movement, as became traditional after the 18th century. Cadenzas in slow movements, such as the lovely slow movement of the G major concerto, find me scowling, however tasteful the interlude may be. There are appropriate times for the soloist to show off a little, but the end of a lovely slow movement is not the right moment (to my opinionated ears).
Also included in the set are two Mozart short works (that used to be favourites of Nathan Milstein): the Rondo in C Major K.373, and the Adagio in E major K.261. Well played and welcome additions. Young Wolfgang Amadeus certainly knew how to write attractive music.
