Violin Concerto no. 5 in A major, K. 219

Mozart’s Fifth Violin Concerto reveals the moment when an inherited language becomes unmistakably his own. The first movement is brilliant and witty, yet formally surprising; the slow movement speaks with a passion beyond courtly convention. The finale gave the concerto its familiar ‘Turkish’ nickname, although the label is only an approximation of the musical story. Behind the elegance, the archive text hears the audacity of a composer discovering the voice with which he would change music.