Louis Spohr: The Complete Works For Clarinet & Orchestra – Christoffer Sundqvist

The Finnish artist Christoffer Sundqvist is one of the leading clarinetists of his generation, and we are very happy to have won him for our complete edition of Louis Spohr’s works for clarinet and orchestra (partly first recordings!). Not only the extremely brilliant and masterly four clarinet concertos can be heard, but also all the other works for clarinet and orchestra, composed at that time for the virtuoso Johann Simon Hermstedt. When Hermstedt played Spohr’s potpourri on themes from Winter’s opera “Das unterbrochene Opferfest” op. 80 in Leipzig on October 13, 1812, the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung commented: “The potpourri for clarinet was not only very happily composed from ideas of the sacrificial feast, but these ideas were also mostly quite excellently processed; and so it would like to stand at the top among the works of this genre. An indispensable complete edition, not only for clarinetists!

Reviews

FonoForum 05/2023: “If the virtuosity is presented as nonchalantly as Christoffer Sundqvist does here, it supports Spohr’s well-calculated light effects. It flickers and glistens, equally Spohr opens up the dark sides of the clarinet when he has it play in a low register in the Adagio of the second concerto. Simon Gaudenz conducts pointedly and sharply, who should get bored?”

klassik-heute.com 01/2023: “The works are exciting and thrilling throughout, going far beyond the clarinet works of Mozart and Carl Maria von Weber in their virtuoso demands. The recording technique conveys a colorful and transparent sound image. Conclusion: this is how to play early Romanticism on the clarinet! Thus a must buy for wind players, as well as for friends of music between Beethoven and Schumann, and especially for those who have always considered Spohr a bit boring due to some violin concertos. Definitely recommended!”

Cultureprint 02/2023: “The exceptional Finnish clarinettist Christoffer Sundqvist, for whom Simon Gaudenz is an enthusiastic and always reliable partner on the podium of the NDR Radiophilharmonie, completes a real parforceride here that makes the highest demands on stylistic awareness, virtuosity and timing.”