This story begins about 14 years ago, when Christoph Koncz — then the Principal Second Violinist of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra — set out to record all five of Mozart’s Violin Concertos. On the surface, it was hardly an extraordinary idea; after all, there are dozens of acclaimed complete recordings of these works. But Koncz’s project was different for one reason: he would be performing on Mozart’s very own violin.
Crafted in the early 18th century by the famed Klotz family of Mittenwald, this violin was one of Mozart’s primary tools for both performance and composition between the ages of roughly 13 and 25. It was on this instrument that he is believed to have composed his five violin concertos, as well as his Sinfonia Concertante – before packing it away for good: when the composer moved to Vienna, he left the violin behind in Salzburg with his sister, Nannerl, who kept it for decades. The violin then passed through various private owners who treated it more like a “holy relic” than a performance tool, until 1956, when it was acquired by the Mozarteum Foundation. Since then, the instrument has been on few outings.
So I had no shortage of questions, when I spoke with Christoph Koncz, a couple of months ago, for a feature on the experience of performing on instruments with distinguished histories. Fortunately, due to the scope of the article, which included interviews with several musicians, I was able to keep some of his remarks in reserve, including reflections on the inspiration behind his recording project, the challenges of playing Mozart’s own violin and the fascinating clues the instrument offers about the composer. You can hear those reflections in the audio above.
