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Posted by Paul S on
07-13-2008
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Well, there's "Mozart", and then there's Mozart...
Leopold Emmer conducts the Vienna Pro Musica Orchestra; Vox PL 8870, 1954
Rudolf Jettel plays the clarinet for the A Major Concerto. He has all the skill and control to get every note in every register, and he shifts registers like most player do notes. This is a good thing, because the peice pretty much demands this skill as a starting point. Fortunately, Jettel is also an artist, and Emmer gets it done with depth, power and flair while Jettel makes you glad that Mozart continued with this sort of work well into his maturity.
Bravo.
Leo Cermak actually makes the bassoon musical (if not "dynamic"), and the early work (B flat major; composed by Mozart at 18 years) is as well realized as I have ever heard one of these pieces done. Very nice, and well worth listening to.
I don't know Emmer at all, but I wish he and the Pro Musica were here in San Diego for the local "Mainly Mozart Festival", which I make an annual point of avoiding.
BTW, this is a very nice recording, as well. It works better in "mono", unlike some of the later stuff that is "bi-naural" and sounds better in "stereo".
Paul S
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Posted by JANDL100 on
08-14-2008
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Thanks for the recommendation, Romy, I've just ordered the Bohm disc from Amazon Market Place - less than £3 delivered!
A Mozart clarinet concerto recording that is unusual and worth looking out for is by the Managing Director (CEO) of the Musical Fidelity hifi equipment company, Anthony Michaelson. Yes, he's an amateur clarinetist, but the joy he finds in playing the piece is very well communicated and contagious. I've heard that at the end of the recording session, he was seen wandering around the studio muttering "I DID it, I DID it !!". Clearly a labour of love. It was issued by Musical Fidelity as MF018. Sure, there are other and probably better played recordings (I like de Peyer, for example) but Michaelson's is one that I treasure.
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