On her second PENTATONE album FLOW, Annelien Van Wauwe presents a program inspired by her love for yoga, combining Mozart’s famous Clarinet Concerto with the...

On her second PENTATONE album FLOW, Annelien Van Wauwe presents a program inspired by her love for yoga, combining Mozart’s famous Clarinet Concerto with the world premiere recording of Wim Henderickx’s concerto SUTRA. Van Wauwe performs both works on the characteristic basset clarinet, together with the renowned NDR Radiophilharmonie under the baton of Andrew Manze. Annelien Van Wauwe is forging a reputation as one of the most exciting and original clarinetists of her generation. Her PENTATONE debut album Belle époque (2019) won an Opus Klassik Award 2020. In his collaboration with the NDR Radiophilharmonie, conductor Andrew Manze brings his experience in the field of historically-informed performance to the polished symphonic sound of the orchestra, resulting in a prize-winning complete cycle of Mendelssohn symphonies (2017-2018), as well as highly-praised interpretations of Mozart’s, 38th and 39th, (2021) as well as 40th and 41st symphonies (2019) and Beethoven’s 5th and 7th symphonies (2020), all released on PENTATONE.

REVIEW:

The program opens with Mozart’s Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra, which becomes very charming in a very light and delicate interpretation. Belgian composer Wim Henderickx dedicated his clarinet concerto Sutra to Annelien Van Wauwe, a yoga adept. It is a concerto for bass clarinet, orchestra, and electronics. The starting point for the effective composition are yoga sutras by Patanjali: Breath of Life, Meditation, Mind Concentration and Intense Spiritual Union. This results in an esoteric-mystical sound world, which is effectively presented by the performers.

-- Pizzicato