Credits:

Lautten Compagney & Asya Fateyeva

Description:

Wittmann shakes and blows his own compositions, Beethoven, and Richard Strauss! This is an album by Wittmann, one of the leading composers, clarinettists, and conductors of our time, and his hand-picked Irish Chamber Orchestra (ICO). The opening piece, "Con Brio," was written by Wittmann on the occasion of the Beethoven Cycle with Mariss Jansons and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, who asked him to write a new work to combine with Symphonies Nos. 7 and 8. (The live performance at Suntory Hall by Jansons and BR Symphony Orchestra has already been released on BR-KLASSIK label 900137). This is the long-awaited first recording by the composer himself. The Double Concerto by Richard Strauss in his later years is a small but very impressive work with dramatic elements in a classical structure reminiscent of Baroque ensemble concertos. In addition to Wittmann's clarinet, it is a pleasure to hear the virtuosity of Diego Kenna, a bassoonist who has many fans in Japan through performances in Japan with Heinz Holliger.The main Beethoven piece, Beethoven's "Sanctification of the Dance," is not only vibrant in its rhythms, but also very appealing and fresh sounding. Naxos Japan