Andreas Ottensamer BLUE HOUR - MENDELSSOHN EDITION

 

BLUE HOUR - MENDELSSOHN EDITION

 

Andreas Ottensamer / Yuja Wang BLUE HOUR

Born in 1989, Andreas Ottensamer comes from an Austro-Hungarian family of musicians and was drawn to music early, receiving his first piano lessons when he was four. At the age of ten he began studying the cello at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, then changed to the clarinet under Johann Hindlerin in 2003.

Andreas Ottensamer gained his first orchestral experience as a deputy in the orchestra of the Vienna State Opera and the Vienna Philharmonic and as a member of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester. In 2009 he interrupted his Harvard studies to become a scholar of the Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic.  He is now the principal clarinettist of the Berlin Philharmonic.

A highlight of this season will be the Europakonzert of the Berlin Philharmonic, in which Andreas Ottensamer will perform Carl Maria von Weber’s Clarinet Concerto No.1 under Mariss Jansons.

Nemanja Radulović BAÏKA

More than a violinist, Nemanja Radulović is a fully rounded artist who breathes new life into everything he plays, as can be seen from his Deutsche Grammophon discography (which ranges from core repertoire for violin and orchestra with the concertos of Bach and Tchaikovsky to Journey East, a collection of shorter works and perhaps his most personal album so far, dedicated to his mother). A musician who plays with the utmost passion and sensitivity, he appeals to all kinds of audiences, not just habitual concert-goers but also those with little or no experience of classical music.

“If I have a mission as an artist,” he says, “it’s that I want to share the things I love with all my heart with everyone!” This is why he loves creating moving musical narratives that transport listeners, taking them on distant journeys of the imagination. There’s always a story behind his vision of the works he performs.

Radulović has already looked eastward for some of his Yellow Label recordings. Journey East evoked the classical past of Central and Eastern Europe with works by Brahms, Dvořák, Shostakovich – composers inspired by traditional music and Slavic folk songs. After this album, the violinist turned to the eternal Bach, creating versions of the Violin Concerto in A minor and the Double Violin Concerto that offer a Bach of our times, and also including a viola concerto by Johann Christian Bach. Next came an album of standard repertoire: Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto and Rococo Variations (world premiere recording of new arrangement). And now, with Baïka, which means “story” or “tale” in Serbian, he’s once again exploring the music of Eastern Europe and beyond.  

His performance style is impossible to reduce to a simple formula. He is open to all influences, notably that of the HIP movement, but has no qualms about giving free rein to a form of modernity when performing the kind of virtuoso showpieces that are sadly still seen as somehow second-rate repertoire. He also takes delight in new arrangements of existing works – extrapolations of the originals that can reveal entirely new worlds. When putting together a programme, he is more than willing to be inspired by meetings with other musicians, well aware that such meetings can generate new stories. Such was the case when it came to the making of Baïka.

The seeds for this album were sown during the first tour that Radulović undertook with Sascha Goetzel and the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, on which Bruch’s First Violin Concerto and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade were among the works performed. During the tour, the violinist used to sit in the auditorium for the second half of each concert and became increasingly captivated by Scheherazade’s solo violin part, which represents the voice of the sultan’s eponymous young bride as she spins her fantastical tales. With the idea of taking that line and expanding on it, Radulović asked his Serbian composer friend Aleksandar Sedlar to develop it into a piece for solo violin and his ensemble Double Sens. The resulting suite – to which the violinist contributed by helping to write the solo part – is a worthy successor to the kind of late nineteenth-century bravura violin works composed by Sarasate and Wieniawski, among others.

Since that first tour, violinist, conductor and orchestra have continued to work together on a regular basis, and they all met up in Istanbul to record the Khachaturian Violin Concerto for Baïka. The concerto dates from the Soviet era and reflects modern Armenia, rather than the fairy-tale east conjured by Scheherazade.

Nemanja Radulović has a soft spot for the Armenian-born Khachaturian, whose celebrated Sabre Dance he recorded for Journey East. For Baïka he chose not only the Violin Concerto, but also the composer’s Trio for clarinet, violin and piano. The key role played by the clarinet in both works makes them companion pieces. Here again Radulović was keen to record with musicians he already knew well and whose talents he hugely respected: clarinetist Andreas Ottensamer and pianist Laure Favre-Kahn.

The album closes with Aleksandar Sedlar’s Savcho 3, a work studded with folk tunes from the shores of the Black Sea. Sedlar created the work by taking an excerpt from his Concerto for saxophone and orchestra and adapting it for solo violin and Double Sens. Baïka is, then, an album rich in colour and texture, as Radulović’s violin is heard with full orchestra, then with string ensemble and piano, and finally in two chamber pieces. The locations in which it was recorded – Berlin, Belgrade and Istanbul – add to the idea of the eastern travels involved in its making.

Anne Gastinel / Nicholas Angelich / Gil Shaham / Andreas Ottensamer / Frankfurt Radio Symphony / Paavo Järvi BEETHOVEN Triple Concerto - Trio Op. 11

...the special feature of this work is its highly individual form: it’s a concertante work, but it’s also genuine chamber music. This mixture of genres, this duality, isn’t always easy to handle: Gil, Nicholas and I form a trio, but one in which each member takes on a solo part. There’s a real balance to be found, which is harder than when there are only two soloists – as in the Brahms Double Concerto, for example. All through the work, there’s continual inter- action between the soloists, and between the trio and the orchestra. 

This concerto can easily become just a superposition of talents if the three soloists are not as ‘connected’ as they are in chamber music. I’ve often thought that the ideal solution was to ask an existing trio to perform it. The challenge of this recording was to form a trio that could play a concertante work with an orchestra, and to create a group that would function naturally and intuitively. I strongly felt that was what was needed. That’s why I immediately thought of Nicholas and Gil. Nicholas, whom I’ve known for a very long time now, has the rare quality of being both a great soloist and a great chamber musician. He always listens to his partners, and his playing is magni cent. As to Gil, whom I admire and whose playing I really love, he’s someone who is characterised by perpetual exchange and mobility; he too is a great listener, so generous and open to other people’s ideas that it’s sheer delight to play with him. We didn’t know each other, except from hearing recordings or concerts, but things came together quite naturally. The three of us met in Paris to play through the work before meeting the orchestra, about a month and a half before the concerts. That rehearsal is still a wonderful memory: everything was so natural, so self-evident between us! We all felt the same thing, that very spontaneous reaction when you make music together, you phrase together . . . That’s the magic of rst meetings, sometimes. 

The orchestra is also very present in this piece; its part is very important. It doesn’t just ac- company the soloists. We’re dealing here with a real Beethoven symphony, featuring a trio of soloists that reacts to the orchestra in a permanent give-and-take... (Anne Gastinel)

Andreas Ottensamer BRAHMS The Hungarian Connection

This album explores Brahms’s lifelong fascination with Hungarian idioms. The programme, following the Quintet, comprises a series of arrangements by the group’s cellist Stephan Koncz, which gradually loosen the strict discipline of a classical chamber group, moving towards the freely expressive style of a Hungarian restaurant band. The arrangements are marvellously well done, and the sequence ranges from the comfortable warmth of Brahms waltzes to the distinctly exotic sound of the Transylvanian medley. (Listeners will find some of these melodies familiar; they appear in Bartók’s Romanian Dances.) The Leó Weiner pieces, originally for clarinet and piano, transmit an atmosphere of peasant music, while the Hungarian Dances are arranged to give the impression of a gypsy band, with spectacular solo contributions from clarinet, violin and cimbalom.

The performance of the Quintet is a fine one, with lovely clarinet tone, excellent overall sound and a deep understanding of the work’s varied character. Andreas Ottensamer appreciates the need for some rhythmic freedom, not least in the elaborate Hungarian music in the Adagio, but I don’t find his rubato as convincing as Reginald Kell’s in his wonderful 1937 recording with the Busch Quartet – Kell is better at keeping the listener aware of the underlying rhythmic framework. And in the finale, I feel there’s a miscalculation in slowing up for the third and fourth variations; this takes away from the tragic effect of the poco meno mosso marked when the first movement’s theme is recalled. But it’s a fascinating issue, with playing of mastery and versatility. (Gramophone) 

Ernst, Daniel & Andreas Ottensamer THE CLARINOTTS

The Clarinotts are a one-of-a-kind clarinet trio formed of Ernst, Daniel and Andreas Ottensamer – the Principal Clarinettists of the Vienna Philharmonic and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras.

Founded in 2005, the ensemble aims to find new and exciting ways in which to bring the varied voices of the clarinet family to the fore, performing on the E-flat, bass clarinet and basset horn alongside the more common B-flat and A clarinet.  With an emphasis on the Viennese tradition of clarinet playing, the individual excellence of each player – all esteemed international soloists in their own right – is expressed in collective performances of the very highest quality.

Comprising extant works, new arrangements and high-profile commissions, The Clarinotts’ repertoire is wide-ranging and diverse, covering core classical masterpieces as well as film music and jazz – all serving to display the dazzling range of colour and inbuilt unity of this critically acclaimed father-and-son trio.  The ensemble ranges accordingly, performing duos and trios with and without piano, as well as in combination with other artists and ensembles.

The Clarinotts regularly tour Europe and Asia, and appear as guests with many of the world’s most renowned orchestras and festivals.  Recent and upcoming highlights include tours of Japan, China and Taiwan, and the world première of a triple clarinet concerto by celebrated Austro-Hungarian composer Ivàn Eröd with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under Andris Nelsons (January 2016).

The Clarinotts released their debut album on Octavia Records and Gramola Vienna in 2009 to much critical acclaim, and are set to release a recording on Mercury Classics/Deutsche Grammophon in early 2016.

The 1^st January 2016 will see the release of The Clarinotts new album on Deutsche Grammophon/Mercury Classics. The enormously talented family trio have based this album on music for the stage, including music by Rossini and Mozart, and it has been recorded with string members from the Vienna Philharmonic.  As well as this exciting news, The Clarinotts will also be the feature of the Vienna Philharmonic’s New Year’s Day intermission film. This will be live streamed world-wide to over 90 countries and will be watched by around 50 million people.

Andreas Ottensamer PORTRAITS The Clarinet Album

In February 2013 Andreas Ottensamer entered an exclusive recording partnership with Deutsche Grammophon/Mercury Classics, making him the first ever solo clarinettist to sign an exclusive agreement with the Yellow Label. His first album, Portraits – The Clarinet Album, has been released in June 2013 and features concertos by Copland, Spohr and Cimarosa, plus arrangements of short pieces. His partners are the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

He said of the recording: “This album poses the challenge of jumping between different styles and ways of playing, but at the same time I set a high priority on maintaining my personal interpretation and sound.”

For a man who is so dedicated to music, Andreas Ottensamer is also passionate about sport. For many years he was a tennis tournament player, and together with his brother he founded his own football club, the Wiener Virtuosen, in 2007. The team plays successfully in the Wiener DSG league and Ottensamer still travels to Vienna for matches whenever his schedule permits.

Apart from his extensive activities within the world of classical music, Andreas Ottensamer has widened his horizon to other musical fields, resulting in a collaboration and recording with Tori Amos on her album Night of Hunters.

Andreas Ottensamer is very passionate about chamber music. He is artistic director of the "Buergenstock Momente" - Festival in Switzerland together with pianist José Gallardo. Artists such as Nils Mönkemeyer, Clemens & Veronika Hagen, Albrecht Mayer, Linus Roth, Danjulo Ishizaka, Benjamin Schmid and the Szymanovksi Quartet have been part of the festival.

The beauty of tone and distinct musicality over a wide range of styles have won extensive critical plaudits for Andreas Ottensamer. Sybill Mahlke wrote in Der Tagesspiegel of his “limitless dynamic range . . . he plays with a vitality that pushes boundaries.” NRC Handelsblad said: “Andreas Ottensamer melts with his clarinet . . . he is an ‘übersolist’ and a phenomenon.” Rebecca Schmid wrote for MusicalAmerica.com: “Solo clarinettist Andreas Ottensamer played with particular finesse . . . and a touch of melancholy.”