The CLARINOTTS

The Clarinotts are the ensemble of father Ernst and his sons Daniel and Andreas Ottensamer – the Viennese 'royal family of clarinet' with Ernst and Daniel being solo clarinettists at Vienna Philharmonic and Andreas solo clarinettist at Berlin Philharmonic.

The family ensemble was born when Daniel and Andreas were children and the family played music together at home. In 2005, The Clarinotts established themselves as a professional touring ensemble.

The major label debut album The Clarinotts features some of the most virtuosic music ever written for clarinet – arranged for 2-3 soloists and orchestra or piano – with repertoire ranging from Mendelssohn and Mozart to Bonfa's film music classic Manha de Carnaval, and a new piece 'Cinema I' written for The Clarinotts.

The Clarinotts will be featured with two pieces from the album in this year’s Vienna New Year’s Day concert TV Broadcast intermission film, which will be broadcast to over 70 countries on the 1st January.

Track Listings:
Mendelssohn: Konzertstück No.1 fuer Klarinette, Bassetthorn und Orchester, op. 113
Mozart, WA: Terzett from Cosi Fan Tutte, K. 588
Doppler, Franz & Karl: Phantasie on themes from the opera Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi
Rossini, Gioacchino: La Danza
Poncielli, Amilcare: Il convegno, op. 76
Françaix, Jean: Petit Quatuor: II. Cantilène
Korény, Béla: Cinema I
Bonfa, Luiz: Manha de CarnavaL
Truan, Olivier: The Chase

Children’s CELLO

“Steven Isserlis and Stephen Hough open with a beginners' open-string solo (Ludwig Lebell's Berceuse orientale) and continue with increasingly challenging material that culminates in Gaspar Cassadó's bravura Requiebros. The contemporary selections are especially satisfying. Gavin Bryars's With Miriam by the River pays homage to the composer's cello-playing mother in music of quiet, lyrical intensity. Howard Blake's Archangel's Lullaby, written to celebrate the birth of Isserlis's son Gabriel, has a Fauré-like sensibility... Hough's Angelic Song (yet another gift to Gabriel Isserlis) is a ravishingly simple meditation. 

Isserlis père's own The Haunted House may not merit repeated hearings but its silliness is sure to provide a chuckle or two, aided by Simon Callow's sly narration, and the cello's role a sound-effects machine could motivate many youngsters to pick up instrument. Delightful.” --Gramophone Magazine, July 2006

SPECTACULAR

Released on separate CDs between 1998 and 2002, the selections in this triple-disc package represent the early concerto recordings Hilary Hahn made for Sony, which in turn established her reputation. Admirers who already own the original albums will find nothing new here, though Samuel Barber's Violin Concerto is now paired with Dmitry Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1, and the Violin Concerto in D major of Ludwig van Beethoven is now coupled with Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, so the original programs have been trimmed of the Serenade by Leonard Bernstein and the Violin Concerto by Edgar Meyer. 

The award-winning album of concertos by Johannes Brahms and Igor Stravinsky hasn't been changed, so it appears to be the only one in the set that didn't give the compilers second thoughts. On the one hand, Hahn's playing has been extolled for an amazing virtuoso technique and for her seriousness of purpose, which she has consistently demonstrated throughout her career.

On the other, these performances fall short of full expressiveness and dramatic power, lending credence to the idea that Hahn is a fairly cerebral musician with a perfectionist streak that keeps emotion in check. However, everyone agrees on Hahn's obvious precocity and risk-taking, which have been evident since she signed with Sony at the age of 16. These are all ambitious projects for artists of any age, and Hahn showed she was up to the challenges in each case. Listeners who are coming to Hahn for the first time should compare this set with some of her later albums to chart her artistic growth.