Thompson has established himself at once among my favorite exponents of these irresistible compositions.

This isn't just an excellent bargain version of the horn concertos, superbly played and recorded, but a valuable example of Mozartian scholarship on disc. Michael Thompson, directing the Bournemouth Sinfonietta with point and flair, plays the four regular concertos in revised texts prepared by John Humphries, as well as offering reconstructions by Humphries of two movements, designed as the outer movements, an Allegro, K370b and a Rondo, K371, for an earlier horn concerto written soon after Mozart arrived in Vienna. The Rondo played here as the second- movement finale of K412 is Humphries' reconstruction from recently discovered sources, and is much more imaginative than the Süssmayr version. It's a revelation too in the most popular of the concertos, No-4, to have extra passages, again adding Mozartian inventiveness.
For example, the tutti in the first movement before the development section is extended in a charming few extra bars. Thompson, for 10 years the Philharmonia's first horn, isn't only technically brilliant, but plays with delectable lightness and point, bringing out the wit in finales, and the tenderness in slow movements.
As conductor and director, he also draws sparkling and refined playing from the Sinfonietta, very well recorded in clear, atmospheric sound.
An outstanding issue for both specialist and newcomer alike.

Michael Thompson plays with delectable lightness and point, bringing out the wit in the finales, as well as the tenderness in slow movements. He also draws sparkling playing from the Bournemouth Sinfonietta...an ideal modern successor to the vintage Dennis Brain versions.