Mozart - Clarinet Concerto, K. 622 (1791) {Harmen de Boer}

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was one of the most influential, popular and prolific composers of the classical period. A child prodigy, from an early age he began composing over 600 works, including some of the most famous pieces of symphonic, chamber, operatic, and choral music.

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Clarinet Concerto in A major, K. 622 (1791)

1. Allegro (0:00)
2. Adagio (12:02)
Rondo. Allegro (18:25)

Harmen de Boer, clarinet and the Nieuw Sinfonietta Amsterdam conducted by Lev Markiz

Recorded at Frits Philips Muziekcentrum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, 1994

Description by Brian Robins
Of the works which Mozart composed for the outstanding Viennese clarinetist Anton Stadler (1753-1812), the Clarinet Quintet in A, K581, written in 1789, and the present Concerto in A, completed less than two months before the composer's death in 1791, are the crowning achievements. Work on the Concerto was started in 1789. Mozart originally intended the work to be for basset horn, but revised it for clarinet. However, the version widely known today differs from the work Mozart produced for Stadler, since the original version was written for an instrument with an extended bass compass that allowed Stadler to demonstrate his famed ability to play low notes. The transcription for standard clarinet (published ten years after Mozart's death) therefore requires an octave transcription of the notes that cannot be produced on it, which changes the color of the work. The first performance was given by Stadler on 16 October 1791, not in Vienna, but at his benefit concert in the Prague Theatre. It therefore seems certain that the composer never heard the composition that has become one of his best known. Cast in the usual three movements, the gentle, nostalgic lyricism of much of the Clarinet Concerto has drawn such epithets as "valedictory" and "autumnal," an assessment that downplays the extraordinary vigor and verve of this inspired work.

The clarinettist Alan Hacker commented in 1969 that if the original manuscript had been published, "manufacturers would have made and sold basset clarinets by the thousand", but the manuscript was lost. Mozart's widow told a publisher that Stadler had either lost it, pawned it or had it stolen from him. In 1801 three different publishing houses – André, Sieber, and Breitkopf & Härtel – published editions of the work, all with the solo part adapted for the standard clarinet. These became the standard performing editions.

The basset clarinet fell out of use after Stadler's death and no original instruments from his time have survived. The instrument was revived in the latter part of the 20th century: attempts were made to replicate the original version, and new basset clarinets have been built for the specific purpose of performing Mozart's concerto and clarinet quintet. Some have been based on 1790s engravings showing Stadler's instrument. The first performance of a reconstructed version of the original was in 1951; Jiří Kratochvíl's reconstruction was played by the clarinettist Josef Janouš.