il pomo d'oro and Zefira Valova focus here on the little-known violin concertos of the second half of the eighteenth century. Bringing together the works of Franz Benda and his elder Johann Gottlieb Graun (in a world premiere recording), pillars of the orchestra at the court of Frederick II of Prussia, as well as those of the Venetian virtuoso Maddalena Lombardini Sirmen and the iconoclastic Georges Bologne de Saint-Georges (also in a world premiere recording), this recording offers a bright panorama of the evolution of the genre, culminating in Mozart's achievements in the last quarter of the century, of which il pomo d'oro and Zefira Valova offer us a glimpse with the famous Rondo in C major, K. 373. © Aparté