Mozart - Clarinet Concerto [Meyer/ Zinman-English Chamber Orchestra]Paul Meyer is a French Clarinetist, now 45 years old, he's recorded for a number of labels, and has a lovely discography, mainly RCA, but earlier in his career he recorded some wonderful discs for Denon, this recording comes from 1992, he has now also taken up Conducting.
I bought this disc mainly for the other two works, but after listening to it, i find myself being drawn into the wonderful Mozart world of the clarinet.
I really do love the beautiful slow movement, one of the best things he's ever done, the clarinet is truly a gorgeous versatile instrument, the clarinet makes its appearance right at the very beginning, with its creamy and gentle theme [0:00-0:31], the orchestra mirrors the clarinet lines [0:34-1:03], then comes the truly heavenly second theme from the clarinet, even more creamy than the first, [1:07-1:38] this is the best moment in the Adagio, and of course the orchestra mirrors this second theme also [1:40-2:09], in these two minutes, the very essence of the slow movement is laid out, of course there's a very gentle reprise of the opening [4:13-5:52], this time with the first orchestral mirror left out, the whole thing is fairly short and sweet, unpretentious, the Adagio lets the other two movements take care of the more bravura moments, it allows us all the treat of basking in the sheer peace of this music.
Here's Sharon Kam playing the slow 2nd movement on YouTube.
