Mozart’s return to Vienna in 1781 initiated a remarkable period of inventiveness and productivity. In late 1784 he wrote the Piano Concerto no.19 in F major, a work Mozart performed in Frankfurt on the occasion of Leopold II’s election as Holy Roman Emperor and which is notable for its rhythmic vivacity and sense of colour. In 1786 he wrote the Piano Concerto no.25 in C major – a work that stretched the concerto genre considerably with its operatic qualities and dramatic dialogue. Ignaz Lachner’s ingenious transcriptions show a complete grasp of Mozart’s idiom, incorporating much instrumental detail and reinventing the music’s underlying dramatic scheme within a chamber context.

Pianist Alon Goldstein performs on Volume 24 of the complete Scarlatti keyboard edition which can be heard on 8574196. Crescendo (France) wrote, ‘The ornamentation is precise, the accents are deliberately striking, even provocative, the beautiful overall architecture well thought out. We ask for more Scarlatti to be played like this!’

The Fine Arts Quartet has made a number of Naxos recordings, for example Mendelssohn’s String Quintets (8570488) and Glazunov’s chamber music (8570256) which were named Recordings of the Year by MusicWeb International, Schumann’s string quartets (8570151) hailed by the American Record Guide as ‘one of the very finest chamber music recordings of the year’.