Peter Oundjian/Martin Fröst: Amsterdam Sinfonietta

I. Allegro, A major

II. Adagio, D major

III. Rondo: Allegro, A major

It was written in October 1791 for the clarinetist Anton Stadler, and just three months before he died.

Instrumentation:

• solo clarinet in A
• 2 flutes, 2 bassoons
• 2 horns
• strings

The basset clarinet…

It’s a lot like bass trombone. The sound of the instrument to my ears is no different, but you get additional, low notes. I know next to nothing about clarinet, but to my ear the lower notes hear sound a lot like the mid range of bass clarinet, and that’s confusing my ear. Because the upper notes in this recording sound just like conventional clarinet, and this guy must be playing an A clarinet with those extra notes. I need help from a woodwind specialist.

Mozart wrote for this instrument…

But there is a lot of controversy around the success of the instrument. At that time it was almost a curiosity, and we don’t know how well such an instrument sounded. It was too new, and we assume there were problems.

Mozart was an innovator…

People forget that. Today we see the powdered wig, and we make the mistake of forgetting what a rebel he was, and what a radical musician he was. He did not write at all for clarinet when he was young, or at least I’ve never heard anything written by him at a young age for clarinet. But soon he included it in more and more of his orchestrations, and by the end of his life he was an absolute master of the instrument.

Most of all remember when this was written…

Mozart would have turned 36 in January of 1792. He died in December of 1791, yet he was still writing things like this only three months earlier.