Search - Brain, Karajan :: Mozart: Horn Concertos Nos. 1-4; Quintet

'Denis Brain left us this supreme Mozartian testament which may be approached by others but never quite equalled, for his was uniquely inspirational music-making, with a quality something like innocence to make it the more endearing' Gramophone Magazine Denis Brain the British virtuoso horn player, was largely credited for popularizing the horn as a solo classical instrument with the post-war British public. With the collaboration of Herbert von Karajan and the Philharmonia Orchestra, he produced what many still consider to be the definitive recordings of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's horn concerti. After the war, Walter Legge and Thomas Beecham founded the Philharmonia and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, respectively. Brain filled the position as principal horn in both. In November 1953, under the direction of Herbert von Karajan, and accompanied by The Philharmonia Orchestra, Brain recorded the Mozart Horn Concertos Nos. 1-4 for EMI. In July 1954, again conducted by Von Karajan, Brain performed the organ part in a recording of the Easter hymn from Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana. Sir Thomas Beecham described Brain as a "prodigy" and Noël Goodin characterised him as "the genius who tamed the horn".