Hyperion Records

A manuscript of this work in a solo harpsichord arrangement evidently preserves it in an early version. In the printed version Arne modernized the first movement by making the first section less like a French overture, removing its characteristic repeat in the process, and added the Andante, a large-scale galant movement similar in style to Haydn’s early harpsichord concertos. The Allegro fugue, now third, originally came second. The last movement, a minuet with variations, is conventional enough until the end, when horns, trumpets and timpani are suddenly and unexpectedly unleashed; their parts were printed in the edition on an extra sheet, and may have been added to the concerto for an occasion when brass players were present for one of Arne’s major choral works.

from notes by Peter Holman © 1991