‘WA Mozart may have written the greatest works for horn and orchestra but this should not lead us to define the instrument, and its repertory, too narrowly’, Alec Frank-Gemmill writes in a booklet note for his survey of concertos by Mozart’s predecessors, a wonderful album, which combines intelligence with music-making of the highest order.

Eighteenth-century composers, Frank-Gemmill tells us, sought to redefine the instrument’s potential by freeing it from its perennial association with hunting. So Telemann’s Concerto in D major inhabits a world of courtly refinement, while Förster’s First Concerto is almost operatic in its heightened sense of drama. Leopold Mozart’s exquisite Sinfonia da camera repositions the horn as a member of a chamber ensemble, engaging in a succession of dialogues with a group of solo strings, and Neruda’s wonderfully elegant E flat Concerto exploits the lyrical capabilities of the ‘clarino’ registers at the top of the instrument’s range. ‘Clarino’ playing, however, gradually became unfashionable towards the century’s close, as new generations of players developed the potential of the horn’s lower registers. Among them was Joseph Leutgeb, for whom Haydn composed his First Concerto in 1762 and for whom Mozart wrote his concertos more than 20 years later.

We have little idea as to exactly what types of horns were in use in the mid-18th century, and it is only thanks to modern innovations in horn design, Frank-Gemmill reminds us, that it ‘is once more possible to perform all of these early concertos, including parts previously considered impossibly high’. Even so, the technical challenges are formidable, and he meets them with an assurance that often takes your breath away. Neruda’s vertiginous lines ascend into the stratospheres with astonishing ease and Haydn’s rapid-fire figurations are done with effortless dexterity. Nothing is vacuously showy, however: virtuosity is consistently placed at the service of expression; cadenzas are integrated into the musical argument; and each concerto is sharply differentiated in mood from its fellows, so that Telemann’s aristocratic poise contrasts with Förster’s greater emotional urgency and Leopold Mozart’s playful elegance.

Nicholas McGegan is equally at home in this repertory, meanwhile. The Swedish Chamber Orchestra play with wonderful freshness and finesse, and there’s a flawless sense of ensemble between Frank-Gemmill and the solo strings in the Sinfonia da camera. An exceptional disc that confirms and consolidates his reputation as one of today’s finest horn players, it makes for compelling and essential listening.