MOZART: ECSTASY AND ABYSS

BACKGROUND

Martin Fröst’s double album for Sony Classical Mozart: Ecstasy and Abyss features the Swedish clarinetist as both soloist on the basset clarinet and as conductor.

Fröst invited mezzo-soprano Ann Hallenberg, pianist Lucas Debargue and soprano Elin Rombo to join him and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, of which he is conductor, in a double album of Mozart selections.

Mozart: Ecstasy and Abyss focuses in its two albums on two different times in Mozart’s artistic journey during which the composer’s creative and personal life vacillated between the joys of triumph and the depths of despair.

THE MUSIC

Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K. 622

Piano Concerto No 25, in C Major, K. 503

Symphony No. 38 in D Major, K.504, “Prague”

Symphony No. 38 in C Major, K. 551 , “Jupiter”

Parto, parto from La clemenza di Tito

Ch’ Io mi scordi di te, K. 505

THE PERFORMANCE

The three works from the year 1786 featured in the Sony Classical Mozart: Ecstasy and Abyss recording bear the Köchel catalogue numbers K. 503, 504, 505.

The music of the Piano Concerto No 25, in C Major affords the impressively gifted pianist Lucas Debargue to deliver a perfectly shaped performance. The technically flawless Swedish Chamber Orchestra glimmers in the Symphony No. 38 in D Major, “Prague” and the silvery-voiced soprano Elin Rombo in Ch’Io mi scordi di te takes the opportunity to share her vocal assets to great advantage under the sensitive directing of Martin Fröst.

The young Swedish maestro magisterially leads mezzo-soprano Ann Hallenberg in an expressively agile Parto, parto from La clemenza di Tito, later shining in his reading of the 1788 Symphony No. 38 in C Major, K. 551, “Jupiter.”

Martin Fröst ultimately reminds one of what makes him one of the finest clarinetists in the world, as he regales the listener with a technically unimpeachable and musically riveting performance of the Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K. 622.

Rafael de Acha © 2023

Cuban-born Rafael de Acha has enjoyed a distinguished career in the arts as a performer, stage director, producer, and educator. He has taught courses on the History of Music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and at Florida International University, and has contributed writings and reviews to www.seenandheard-international.com and to his blog: www.allabouttheartscoms.com