Within a period of nine months in 1775, Mozart wrote five violin concertos, either for his own use as concertmaster of the Salzburg orchestra, or for his successor in the post, Antonio Brunetti. The fifth of the set was finished on December 20. It is subtitled Turkish because of the so-called “Turkish music” in the last movement, which Mozart lifted from his own opera Lucio Silla.

Alfred Einstein considers the Fifth Concerto “unsurpassed for brilliance, tenderness and wit.” Describing all five violin concertos, H.C. Robbins Landon writes: “Melody is piled upon melody, and new ideas succeed each other in blissful insouciance of each other and of any strict formal pattern. What immediately captivates the listener is the matchless elegance of conception and execution, the suavity of orchestration--which even at this comparatively early stage has that natural brilliance which is so characteristic of mature Mozart--and the luxurious delight in pure melody.”

~ Program Notes by Charley Samson, copyright 2022.