Search - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Karl Böhm, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra :: Mozart: Clarinet Concerto, Oboe Concerto, Bassoon Concerto (Soloists/Vienna Philarmonic Orchestra, Karl Boehm)

Big-Boned Mozart

Christopher Smith | Atlanta, Georgia | 12/08/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

".... I'm biased toward performances such as these--warm, spacious, generous interpretations, with none of the thin, bloodless warblings that characterize period piece recordings. The soloists are in fine form, and then there's Karl Bohm, one of the greatest Mozart conductors ever, directing. The feature attraction is of course the clarinet concerto--the last concerto Mozart ever wrote--with its complex interweaving of melancholy and peaceful resignation. I bought this because the first recording I ever had of this concerto featured the clarinet soloist here--Alfred Prinz--on a Decca recording from the '60s. It's obviously a piece close to his heart, and he pours everything into it--especially the Adagio, which is one of the most beautiful Mozart ever composed. The other two concertos are perfectly agreeable, lighter pieces, more in keeping with the many Serenades and Divertimenti Mozart wrote in the late 1770s and early 1780s. The oboe concerto is very appealing, with a particularly ambitious Andante, but the oboe doesn't have nearly the range of the clarinet and there can't be any comparison to what the clarinet concerto achieves. Both the oboe and bassoon concertos are well worth having though, and they complement the profundities of the clarinet concerto nicely; just don't expect them up to the same heavenly standard."