Mozart : Flute, Harp and Clarinet Concertos - Emmanuel Pahud, Sabine Meyer, Marie-Pierre Langlament, Claudio Abbado, Berliner Philharmoniker

Mozart : Flute, Harp and Clarinet Concertos
Emmanuel Pahud : Flute
Marie-Pierre Langlament : Harp
Sabine Meyer : Basset-Clarinet
Berliner Philharmoniker
Claudio Abbado

BBC music magazine : Richard Wigmore

Performance : ****

Sound : ****

In the Sixties and Seventies, the ECO in Mozart seemed a paragon of clarity and point. In today’s brave new authentic world, though, it tends to sound slightly too comfortable and well-upholstered. That said, there is quite a lot to enjoy in this 40th anniversary offering featuring a clutch of the orchestra’s principals. Best are the Oboe Concerto, a spruce, elegant performance, longer on lyricism than puckishness, and the Horn Concerto, refined, thoughtfully shaded and – in the finale – less gamesome than usual. In the Bassoon Concerto smoothness can equal blandness – the bassoon’s role as the orchestra’s clown can be exaggerated, but in the outer movements I missed a crucial sense of fun and irreverence. The dubious wind Concertante – an inflated 19th-century concoction based at most on ideas by Mozart – comes over well enough, with nimble, shapely contributions from oboe and clarinet. But why only a measly 83 minutes of music teased over two discs? No complaints about the playing time on the EMI reissue. In the Flute and Harp Concerto Marie-Pierre Langlamet is a tad reticent – not just a question of recorded balance; and agile though the soloists are, Abbado’s tempo for the gavotte finale sounds slightly hard-driven. Both here and in the Flute Concerto Emmanuel Pahud is a classy soloist, cooler, less luscious of tone than, say, James Galway, but phrasing with grace and a touch of fantasy. Playing on a basset clarinet (with its additional, oily notes), Sabine Meyer gives an equally vivid performance of the Clarinet Concerto, more urgent and restless, less nostalgically autumnal than most. If I still, just, prefer the recent live recording by her brother Wolfgang, it’s partly because of the sheer inventiveness of his phrasing, partly because Harnoncourt and his period forces get that much more colour and character into the accompaniments.

Amazon.com : Editor's Review : Michael Church

Emmanuel Pahud, who here delivers his version of Mozart's first flute concerto plus the composer's earlier work for flute and harp, is, in many ways, James Galway's anointed successor. This young Swiss virtuoso followed Galway in the job of principal flute with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra at the tender age of 22 after receiving encouragement from him, and as the older flautist has diversified into nonclassical territories, Pahud has taken his place as prime purveyor of the flute classics. He brings to Mozart's first concerto a tone of astonishing warmth and fullness--those who think the flute colorless should listen in here--and to its gorgeous slow movement an irresistible grace. With harpist Marie Langlamet, the double concerto springs vibrantly to life; the melodic patterns they weave around each other in the slow movement are all the more beautiful for being taken at a notably gentle pace. This version more than holds its own against the classic recording by Galway and Marisa Robles. Meanwhile, clarinetist Sabine Meyer deals effectively with the concerto on which all clarinetists must sooner or later leave their mark. Claudio Abbado and the incomparable Berlin Philharmonic underpin everything with their trademark warmth and clarity.

Flute Concerto No.1 in G KV313 01. I. Allegro maestoso [8:46.22] 02. II. Adagio ma non troppo [8:31.25] 03. III. Rondo (Tempo di Menuetto) [7:15.00] Concerto for Flute and Harp in C KV299 04. I. Allegro [9:45.55] 05. II. Andantino [8:50.38] 06. III. Rondeau (Allegro) [9:10.07] Clarinet Concerto in A KV622 07. I. Allegro [11:55.43] 08. II. Adagio [6:34.42] 09. III. Rondo (Allegro) [8:03.28]

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