Cappella Coloniensis - Clarinet Concertos / Orchestral Quartet - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

All things Mozart have been said and done, you'd think. Well, nothing could be further from the truth. The exegesis of the Mozart verse is a full-time job to many. The works on this recording alone raise a bunch of questions of which several remain unanswered. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's story for clarinet and string ensemble hasn't been fully written yet. Part of it is voiced through some of the most often performed works in the repertoire. Still, every clarinetist is left with the challenge to get hands-on with the music and put a personal, original spin on it. To accomplish this, one has to be willing to do the necessary homework, returning to the source - and to go about it diligently.

A large measure of Mozart's increasing fascination with the clarinet from the later 1780s was due to his interaction with one of the cutting-edge virtuosi of the day, Anton Stadler, for whom both of the works on this CD were composed as well as the Clarinet Concerto, K. 662. Both works are played here by Australian virtuoso, Owen Watkins on reproductions of period clarinets, including a basset instrument, with extended lower range, for the Clarinet Quintet in A major, K. 581. Jaap Schröder, an expert in the violin repertoire of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, founded the Skálholt Quartet and lead the Quartetto Esterhazy and Smithson String Quartet, performing and recording classical quartet repertoire for the first time on period instruments. Oboist Owen Watkins has performed and recorded with many premier ensembles in the USA, Europe and Australia, including Boston Baroque, the Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Camerata, Washington Bach Consort, Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Pinchgut Opera and Orchestra of the Antipodes, Orchestra 1788 and the Cambini Quintet. A faculty member of the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute for twenty-five years, Penelope Crawford is internationally acclaimed as one of America's master performers on historical keyboard instruments. From 1975 to 1990, she was harpsichordist and fortepianist with the Ars Musica Baroque Orchestra, one of the first period instrument ensembles in North America. Album Tracks 1. Clarinet Quintet in a Major, K. 581 2. Clarinet Trio in E Flat Major, K. 498

Album Tracks 1. Clarinet Concerto No. 2, Op.115 2. Concerto No.1 for Horn and Orchestra Op.11 3. Concerto No.2 for Flute and Orchestra Op.111 4. Concerto for Piano Duet and Strings, Op.32