The amazing Canadian Henderson-Kolk Guitar Duo (Drew Henderson & Michael Kolk) play their arrangement of Duo for Violin and Viola in G major K.422 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). This comes via Henderson’s great YouTube channel. Wonderful playing as usual, it’s pure grace meets virtuosity. Check out their album of arrangements from their new Mozart CD. Available on CDBaby, iTunes, or Spotify.
They posted some info about the piece from their liner notes: “The Duo for Violin and Viola in G major is a work of charming brightness. Along with another duo in B-flat major, it was composed in the summer of 1783 as a favour to Mozart’s old friend and colleague Michael Haydn (the younger brother of Joseph), who had been commissioned by the Archbishop of Salzburg to compose six duos for violin and viola. Haydn had fallen ill and wasn’t able to complete the set, so Mozart gave him the two pieces to pass off as his own. This duo contains many passages of lively dialogue between the two instruments, as well as some poignant melodic writing in the middle movement, reminiscent of an opera aria. The closing Rondo opens with a bouncy, light-hearted theme which soon gives way to sparkling virtuoso passages that belie their difficulty.
