Markus Schwering on Nicolas Baldeyrou's Mozart Recording: "He Phrases with Inspiration"
A major new review of Nicolas Baldeyrou's recent Alpha Classics release — Mozart: Complete Works for Clarinet, Vol. 1 — has been published by German music critic Markus Schwering.
The album features Mozart's Clarinet Concerto KV 622 and the Sinfonia Concertante KV 297b, performed on historical instruments with the Kölner Akademie under Michael Alexander Willens, alongside a French team of soloists including Gabriel Pidoux, David Guerrier and David Douçot.
Schwering places Baldeyrou squarely against "the toughest competition" — and concludes that he holds his own with ease:
"In the case of K. 622, Baldeyrou is up against the toughest competition – even when one takes into account that he plays Mozart's original basset clarinet, which has a range a full third lower than the A-clarinet commonly used today (of course, one would expect this from a historically informed recording). He stands up to comparison with the aforementioned competition with ease. He phrases with inspiration, embellishes with great taste and – particularly in the legendary slow movement – strikes an excellent dramatic balance between the underlying melancholy and moments of liveliness. And the deep third of the basset clarinet is brought out to its full tonal potential."