Mozart: Ecstasy & Abyss

Musical maverick Martin Fröst’s most ambitious Sony Classical release yet sees him as both clarinetist and conductor, joining soloists Lucas Debargue (piano), Ann Hallenberg (Mezzo-Soprano) and Elin Rombo (Soprano) and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, of which he is chief conductor, in a double-album of masterpieces capturing the paradox of Mozart’s fragile existence and extraordinary creativity. 

Each of the release’s two albums focuses on a moment in Mozart’s life when the composer appeared to teeter on a knife-edge between triumph and disaster, joy and depression, life and death. It was these moments that brought music of the most extraordinary beauty and intensity from the composer. 

Included are Mozart’s sublime Clarinet Concerto, his simmering Piano Concerto No. 25 (soloist Lucas Debargue), his joyous "Prague" and "Jupiter" symphonies and sparkling arias from the operas La clemenza di Tito (with Ann Hallenberg) and Idomeneo (with Elin Rombo). 

This release marks Fröst’s recorded debut as a conductor, while he directs the orchestra in his third recording of Mozart’s "Clarinet Concerto" from the Basset Clarinet. Fröst believes Mozart’s ability to "smile through tears" can help us understand the paradoxes of our own lives. "There has never been a more important time for his music, I feel that the music of the Enlightenment has gained a new relevance in our era of desolation, where we must create and recreate hope."

Listen and order the album here.