Mozart: Clarinet Works Dirk Altmann, Kei Shirai, Masato Suzuki, Ludwirg Chamber Players

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791): Clarinet Quintet in A Major, Op. 108, K. 581:
• 1 Mozart: Clarinet Quintet in A Major, Op. 108, K. 581: I. Allegretto 09:13
• 2 Mozart: Clarinet Quintet in A Major, Op. 108, K. 581: II. Larghetto 06:37
• 3 Mozart: Clarinet Quintet in A Major, Op. 108, K. 581: III. Menuetto 06:36
• 4 Mozart: Clarinet Quintet in A Major, Op. 108, K. 581: VI. Allegretto con variazioni 09:18
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:
• 5 Mozart: Abendempfindung, K. 523 (Arr. for Clarinet & Piano) 05:02
• 6 Mozart: An Chloe, K. 524 (Arr. for Clarinet & Piano) 03:05
• Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K. 622:
• 7 Mozart: Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K. 622: I. Allegro 12:27
• 8 Mozart: Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K. 622: II. Adagio 06:12
• 9 Mozart: Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K. 622: III. Rondo. Allegro 09:21
• Total Runtime 01:07:51

Info for Mozart: Clarinet Works

The clarinet player uses his instrument as billard cue. This little provocation on the cover indicates what is going on. Its common knowledge that Mozart composed these pieces not long before his death. But for Dirk Altmann (and booklet author Katharina Eickhoff) they are not the creations of an angel on the way to heaven but where written in a very earthly environment a part of which was playing billard with his friend and clarinet player Anton Stadler. What happens when the clarinet concerto is played exempt of romantic, nearly religious enhancement? We hear the inspirations of a joyful genius. Surely you want to know more...

I know, there are tons of recordings of the everybody’s darling Mozart clarinet concerto! But! If you are serious and studious, you will find some new aspects. For example: If you play with a small, but agil ensemble, it is much easyer to show the gestures of the music, without forcing it. To play with a Basso continuo group – in our case with pianoforte – what was common in the times of Mozart, makes the recording more coulerfull and interesting. Masato Suzuki was a great partner and we had a lot of fun during the recording days. Thats why we chose to play some songs by Mozart adappted for clarinet and piano.

Andreas Spreer is one of the best recording masters I know. The TACET equipment, with his old Neumann tube microphones is incredible. The musicality feeling and incorruptible hearing of Andreas is legendary. It is again a great TACET production. Many thanks to my beloved collegues from the Ludwig Chamber Players and the SWR Symphony Orchester. It was a pleasure! Not to mention the outstanding texts by Katharina Eickhoff and the wonderful booklet design by Toms Spogis.

Dirk Altmann, bass clarinet
Ludwig Chamber Players & members of the SWR Symphonieorchester
Kei Shirai, concertmaster
Masato Suzuki, pianoforte

Dirk Altmann
For more than 30 years, Dirk Altmann has been a principal solo clarinet with the SWR Symphonie Orchestra in Stuttgart. In addition, he is very active as a soloist, chamber musician, arranger and teacher.

In January 2018 he recorded the clarinet concerto KV 622 and the clarinet quintet KV 581 by W.A. Mozart, with the Ludwig Chamber Players and Masato Suzuki (fortepiano, conductor) for the TACET label (now released). In 2016 he produced his PARIS album with the Japanese pianist and professor Mako Okamoto. Further CDs with works by Charles Koechlin, Robert Schumann and Paul Hindemith have been released with the labels Hänssler classic and TACET. As a soloist Alt- mann recorded the Première Rhapsody by Claude Debussy with Heinz Holliger and RSO Stuttgart for SWRmusic.

As a chamber musician he plays with the Ludwig Chamber Players (LCP), the STUTTGART WINDS, the ensemble FrAlHöTi and in a duo with Mako Okamoto, piano.

An ensemble version of the “Visions fugitives” by S. Prokofiev (LCP – TACET), which he did for the Ludwig Chamber Players Prokofiev Chamber music CD, was nominated for the International Classical Music Award (ICMA) 2017.

As a soloist, he was a guest at international festivals, In Ferrara, Schwetzingen, Salzburg or the Rheingau Music Festival. With Sir Roger Norrington, Sir Neville Marriner, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Thomas Hengelbrock, Peter Eötvös, Heinz Holliger and Daniel Harding as conductors.

In recent years, Dirk Altmann has repeatedly been invited to master classes in China, Taiwan and Japan. Since 2010 he has been cooperating with the Japanese woodwind instrument manufacturer JOSEF Woodwind Manufacture (Okinawa).

This album contains no booklet.