Mozart’s Real Musical Father

Following their superb Dussek album (5 stars in BBC Music Magazine), Duo Pleyel’s Richard Egarr and Alexandra Nepomnyashchaya explore the seminal role a musical father figure can play in shaping another composer. From Mozart’s first meeting with Johann Christian Bach (the ‘London Bach’) as a young boy in England in 1764, an extraordinary musical bond and mutual respect was forged between the two great composers. The life-long influence of the older musician on Mozart is often seriously under-appreciated, yet Mozart quoted musical fragments and themes by Christian throughout his life, none more poignantly than in the slow movement of his A major piano concerto K. 414, written shortly after Christian’s death. The program on this recording brings their four-hands music together to show both the influence and individuality of these wonderful composers.