*** ICMA Award 2015 in Concerto category ***

It all started at the end of a beautiful summer’s day in August 2010: the telephone rings, Lucas Macias Navarro, solo oboe of the Concertgebow Amsterdam, is on the line: “Hi Pat! Would you be interested in recording Mozart’s Oboe Concerto with the Mozart Orchestra, conducted by… Claudio Abbado?”

Knowing the musician to be a tease at times, I first thought it was a joke, but Lucas confirms: it is indeed a serious proposition!

Even though the Claves catalogue includes such brilliant names as Fischer-Dieskau, Teresa Berganza or the English Chamber Orchestra, it is true that a project such as this is quite something in a catalogue that prides itself with rare recordings, young interpreters, and also promotes and broadcasts the Swiss musical scene.

After all, it is rather as if, in 1980, the flautist Jean-Pierre Rampal had made a proposal to our founder, Marguerithe Dütschler, to record a Mozart concerto conducted by Herbert von Karajan…
Needless to say, the answer was yes, and thanks to donations from a very generous patron, the recording was planned in Spain, three years later.