Mozart: Clarinet Concerto
David Shifrin; Gerard Schwarz, Mostly Mozart Orchestra
Delos
One critic said, “If there is a bel canto school of clarinet playing, Shifrin is surely its finest exponent.” As heard here, truer words were never spoken. His wonderfully shaded colors can be light as ether, and the way he shapes and phrases his lines with a combination of legato and dotted notes is so like speaking that he compels you to listen to his every sentence. In addition, with the use of an extended clarinet, he plays Mozart’s original low, low notes that usually are transposed to a higher register. The orchestra is remarkably buoyant, transparent, and fluid; Schwarz, the perfect partner, knows when to be full-voiced and when to pull back. Add the incomparable engineering team of Marc Aubort and Joanna Nickrenz, and you won’t find a better recording.
Bruckner: Symphony No. 7
Eugen Jochum, Dresden State Orchestra
EMI
Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Cincinnati Symphony
Telarc
Jochum works the miracle of making every player think as one. The exquisite engineering balances let you feel how each player listens to the others, weighing and dovetailing their lines into a perfectly knit whole. While Jochum takes occasional liberties with some tempos and adds a retard here and there, his concept of each movement is utterly unified and overwhelmingly powerful. He outdoes even Karajan in serving up the most gorgeous orchestral playing in the world. Pianissimo entries are cushioned on velvet, and the contratuba is the mellowest you’ll ever hear.
Lopez-Cobos’ orchestra also is absolutely sumptuous in every department, and the all-important French horns and trombones are simply stellar. Lopez-Cobos’ approach is a bit more straightforward than Jochum’s, taking fewer liberties with the score as he weaves each of the movements together into a flowing whole, making all of Bruckner’s seams melt away with his beautifully shaped phrases. Perhaps the highlight is the second movement, which the conductor frames like a lullaby. But you’ll hear more woodwind textures in Jochum’s performance.
WebTips: Jochum’s recording is available on a budget-priced 2-CD album along with Bruckner’s Symphony No. 3. It’s also available in his set of Bruckner’s nine symphonies that has enough superb performances to make it worth the price (not the same as Jochum’s different set of the nine symphonies on Deutsche Grammophon with the Berlin Philharmonic).
