Search - Sebastian Manz :: Carl Maria von Weber: Complete Works for Clarinet

That is quite a coup! Sebastian Manz, ARD Music Competition winner and solo clarinettist of the SWR Symphony Orchestra, sums up the years he has devoted to the clarinet works of Carl Maria von Weber by presenting a complete recording of those works on a double album. Weber's two concertos for clarinet and orchestra, a Concertino, a Grand Duo Concertant, the Silvana Variations and a clarinet quintet represent some of the most important works for clarinet ever written, true masterpieces of the Romantic era. Weber's music also marks a milestone in the musical life of Sebastian Manz. In his youth, he heard a recording of the Second Clarinet Concerto - with jazzman Benny Goodman as soloist - and it was Goodman's energetic playing that convinced the young Sebastian Manz that nothing less than intensive engagement with his instrument would do. Like Goodman, who took a jazz musician's liberties with Weber's work, Sebastian Manz himself enhances the compositions with all the artistic devices at his disposal. In preparing for this recording, he made a close study of the score that belonged to Heinrich Joseph Baermann, the great clarinet virtuoso of his day, who kept up a close friendship with Carl Maria von Weber and was involved in the composition of the clarinet works from start to finish. The consequence was that Baermann prepared his own versions of the works, taken as standard by many clarinettists to this day. Not that Manz ever regarded that as an option! He has developed his own interpretations - resulting in an individual reading full of lightness and artistic invention. The comprehensive uniqueness on all levels of Sebastian Manz's recording has much to do with the circumstances under which it was produced. As solo clarinettist of SWR's Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart. Sebastian Manz was able to bring his own Stuttgart colleagues on board for the recordings - making a team that delves into the technical subtleties of Weber's works while also plumbing their emotional depths.