The "Clarinet Concerto in A", which Mozart wrote a few months before his death, hardly needs an introduction. Every lover of classical music (and many cinema-goers) knows the melting clarinet sounds of the Adagio, with its melancholy descending melody lines. A live performance of this concert has been released on CD accompanied by the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Claudio Abbado. Less known,
… but certainly worthwhile, is the work "Fantasma / Cantos" by the Japanese composer Takemitsu, who died in 1996. In this work the clarinet moves in a richly orchestrated landscape. The structure is influenced by the Japanese landscape style, where a walker is guided around in such a way that he returns to the starting point at the end of the walk. However, because the walker has gained all kinds of impressions, this starting point has changed meaning. The CD also contains Debussy's "Premiere Rhapsody". (HJ) _more
