Mozart: Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K. 622 - EP

Dotted throughout recording history are performances of iconic status. For instance, both of Glenn Gould’s Goldberg Variations, from 1956 and 1981, are revered to this day. As is Jacqueline du Pré’s account with Sir John Barbirolli of the Elgar Cello Concerto. Another is surely Sabine Meyer’s recordings of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto. Mozart’s 1791 work (completed just weeks before his death) has been recorded countless times by eminent soloists and orchestras. Yet, time and again, listeners are drawn back to either of Meyer’s two celebrated recordings—from 1990 (with the Staatskapelle Dresden under Hans Vonk) and 1999 (Berlin Philharmonic and Claudio Abbado)—by the beauty of her liquid tone, her deep engagement with the concerto’s wide emotional palette, and the sheer abandon and bravura of her playing. But Meyer has found yet more within the work and has recorded it once again, this time live, alongside a chamber ensemble instead of the full-size symphony orchestras of before. “I think a chamber orchestra fits more to this style of music,” Meyer tells Apple Music Classical. Firstly, a smaller group results in a transparency of orchestral sound that opens up Mozart’s score in revealing and thrilling ways, whether they be underlying countermelodies or tiny rhythmic details easily subsumed by large forces. “The orchestra is fantastic, and Giovanni Antonini is so incredibly inspiring,” says Meyer, “that I’m absolutely sure I’ve never played the concerto better than with him.” There’s a nimbleness to the opening “Allegro” movement, too, that lends the music a vibrant forward movement, while orchestra and clarinet are evenly balanced, allowing Meyer to bring more subtlety to quieter passages and phrases. The second movement “Adagio,” one of Mozart’s most famous slow movements, takes on an almost operatic quality, Meyer’s clarinet soaring gloriously above, and beneath, the pulsing accompaniment. She coaxes a glorious richness from her basset clarinet, the slightly larger and lower-range instrument for which Mozart wrote his concerto. “The problem with Mozart’s Clarinet concerto is that the original score and the original instrument are both lost,” says Meyer. “There is a very good reconstruction in the ‘Neue Mozart-Ausgabe’ (New Mozart Complete Edition), but here I used my own.” Even with three recordings and dozens of live performances of this concerto to her name, there is no doubt that the work will continue to remain a firm part of Meyer’s life. “I’ve played the concerto for more than 40 years, but every performance is like playing it for the first time. I’m always nervous playing it, and I’m sure it’s a ‘never ending story’ for me—it is so rich with emotions and depth. I always have the impression that I can learn more about the piece.”