The Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood - Mozart: The Wind Concertos (3CD) (1998)

It would be hard to find more appealing treatments of Mozart's wind concertos than these from Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music, featuring a distinguished group of period-instrument soloists. Leading the way, and playing a deliciously mellow-sounding basset clarinet, Anthony Pay gives a splendid account of what is surely Mozart's most beautiful concerto, the Clarinet Concerto in A, K. 622. Pay's shadings are soft and natural, his embellishments simply marvelous, and he and Hogwood are right on the mark when it comes to tempo, expression, and accent. Another delight is the spirited and expressive playing of Lisa Beznosiuk, both in the Flute Concerto, K. 313, and in the Concerto for Flute and Harp, K. 299, where she shares solo honors with Frances Kelly. Michel Piguet is a formidable soloist in the Oboe Concerto, K. 314, and Danny Bond achieves wonders with a period instrument in the Bassoon Concerto, K. 191. Not to be outdone, Anthony Halstead delivers crisp, athletic work in the various concertos and concerto movements for horn, and manages to get a wonderfully fat tone from both of his instruments, modern copies of valveless period horns. Hogwood and the Academy give dependably bold, energetic readings across the board, their playing full of verve in the tuttis and suitably transparent in the quiet pages. While the recordings, made between 1984 and 1993, are all quite good, the works for horn benefit from a particularly effective engineering job, with sound that is exceptionally well balanced and silky. --Ted Libbey