New Era— Andreas Ottensamer, clarinet; Potsdam Chamber Academy; with Albrecht Mayer, English horn & Emmanuel Pahud, flute (Decca 4814711)
Andreas Ottensamer’s third solo CD is dedicated to music from the Mannheim School, the 18 th century melting pot of revolutionary musical experimentation. Attracting the best musicians from all over Europe, Mannheim became the birthplace of the modern orchestra, and at the same time, the source of the first great clarinet concertos. Featuring duets with his Berlin Philharmonic colleagues Albrecht Mayer and Emmanuel Pahud, Andres Ottensamer celebrates this ‘new era’ of explosive, colorful and virtuosic music. Concertos by Johann and Carl Stamitz bookend pieces by Franz Danzi and transcriptions of Mozart arias for the artists at hand. Watch the trailer here.