It was an awakening experience when Christoph Koncz, principal violinist of the Vienna Philharmonic and conductor, first held Mozart’s original concert violin in his hands. This was the violin on which Mozart had played as concertmaster in the Salzburg Hofkapelle: a Baroque violin that was carefully preserved after Mozart’s death and treated almost as a holy relic. The idea of recording Mozart’s five violin concertos for the first time on the composer’s own concert violin was one that Christoph Koncz found irresistibly fascinating.

“There’s a close connection between these concertos and this instrument, and Mozart’s own experience of this violin undoubtedly inspired him greatly. In his violin concertos he was fond of using the instrument’s upper tessitura and coloratura register, which is where his violin sounds particularly beautiful.” – Christoph Koncz