Andreas Ottensammer comes from an Austro-Hungarian family of musicians. He received his first piano lessons when he was four, at the age of ten he began studying cello in his home town at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, then changed to the clarinet under Johann Hindler in 2003. In 2011 he assumed the role of Principal Clarinetist of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
This new recording by Mr. Ottensammer is titled “New Era”. It features the following music:
Danzi:
Concertino for clarinet, bassoon and orchestra B flat major, Op. 47
Mozart:
Se viver non degg’io (original version) (from Mitridate, Re di Ponto)
arr. for basset clarinet and flute, with Emmanuel Pahud (flute)
Batti, batti, o bel Masetto (from Don Giovanni), arr. for basset horn and flute, with Emmanuel Pahud (flute)
Stamitz, C:
Clarinet Concerto No. 7 in E flat major
Stamitz, J:
Clarinet Concerto in B flat Major
All music for clarinet is performed by Andreas Ottensamer (clarinet), with the Kammerakademie Potsdam, Albrecht Mayer conducting.
Ottensamer presents a dazzling selection of the clarinet’s early repertoire from 18th Century Mannheim, with works by J. and C.P. Stamitz, Mozart and Danzi, together with the Kammerakademie Potsdam.
Featuring duets with Albrecht Mayer and Emmanuel Pahud – two of the great wind soloists of our time and Ottensamer’s friends and colleagues at the Berliner Philharmoniker. It promises to be the chamber recording of the year.
The “Mannheim school” was a melting pot of “revolutionary experimentation” – musicians from all over Europe coming together to develop a new explosive and colorful sound – forming the orchestra as we know it today.
The Mannheim Orchestra was also the first to adopt the recently developed clarinet into the orchestra, and here Mozart heard the instrument for the first time.
Andreas Ottensammer commented:
“It’s fascinating to think that Mannheim inspired so many composers and musicians, and it was the players themselves who made it happen – it gave them the chance to do their own thing. Every aspect of composition, playing, teaching and conducting was concentrated there, and audiences went wild, blown away by the kind of rock-star ensemble that they heard.”
Here are Andreas Ottensammer and Emmanuel Pahud, performing the music of Mozart:
