MOZART: Viola Concerto And String Quintet

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K. 622
Clarinet Quintet in A Major, K. 581

Lars Anders Tomter, viola
Norwegian Chamber Orchestra
Arvid Engegård, conductor
Henning Kraggerud, violin
Jan Bjøranger, violin
Catherine Bullock, viola
Christian Poltéra, cello

The clarinet was still in the process of evolution as Mozart was writing, and he designed the Quintet and Concerto for the instrument developed by his friend and fellow Freemason, the clarinet virtuoso Anton Stadler (1753-1812); the "bassett clarinet". This instrument was no success, but of course Mozart's music lived on - although in arrangements for other solo instruments made after his death. Mozart's original solo part for the concerto is today vanished. For the solo part to be playable on the clarinet, the arranger had to do adaptations of the melodic material.

Simax releases for the first time on CD a viola version, dating from 1802-03 when it was published by Johann André in Offenbach-am-Main. Given that the viola has the same ambitus as the bassett clarinet, reaching a third below the clarinet, the unknown arranger of this viola version could keep much of the original solo part without re-writing. The source of this arrangement remains a mystery, although musicologists speculate in names like Beethoven and Hummel.

This is a brilliant adaption of Mozart's clarinet quintet, where the solopart is divided between the solo viola and the first violin. The result is a remarkable string quintet with elegant exchanges between violin, cello and viola characterize the movement as it progresses; the highly contrapuntal writing of the development section (in which each string instrument gives its version of the viola's opening phrase) testifies to Mozart's recent study of J.S. Bach, which had its effect on all his late music.