Description
EuroArts: Mozart — A Mozart Gala from Prague, Sharon Kam, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Honeck (DVD)
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Product Details:
- Product Type: DVD (Video)
- Brand / Label: EuroArts
- Catalog Number: 2055158
- UPC: 880242551580
- Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
- Soloist: Sharon Kam (basset clarinet)
- Orchestra: Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
- Conductor: Manfred Honeck
- Genre: Classical / Orchestral
- Recorded: Estates Theatre, Prague, 27 January 2006
Product Features
- Format: DVD 9
- Region Code: 0 (worldwide / all regions)
- Picture: NTSC, 16:9 anamorphic, Colour
- Sound: PCM Stereo / Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1 Surround
- Running time: 66 minutes
- Director (video): Adam Rezek
- Condition: Factory sealed (brand new)
Overview
An all-Mozart evening filmed in the one theatre where it belongs: the Estates Theatre in Prague, where Mozart himself conducted the premiere of Don Giovanni in 1787. The program gathers works tied to the city, performed by the Czech Philharmonic under Manfred Honeck with clarinettist Sharon Kam as the soloist.
The centerpiece is the Clarinet Concerto in A major, K. 622 — Mozart's last completed concerto, finished weeks before his death. Kam plays it on the basset clarinet, the lower-range instrument Mozart actually wrote for, restoring passages usually transposed away on a modern clarinet. It's framed by the dramatic Overture to Don Giovanni, K. 527, and the Symphony No. 38 "Prague," K. 504, the symphony Mozart unveiled in the city that adored him.
The setting carries real weight. The gilded Estates Theatre looks much as it did in Mozart's day, and the disc makes the most of it — a tribute concert in the room where this music first sounded. Honeck draws clean, lively playing from the Czech Philharmonic across 66 minutes.
Interesting Facts
- The Estates Theatre is the only surviving theatre where Mozart personally performed and conducted; both Don Giovanni and La clemenza di Tito premiered there.
- Sharon Kam performs the Clarinet Concerto on a basset clarinet, the extended-range instrument Mozart originally intended — most performances use a standard clarinet that alters the lowest notes.
- The Clarinet Concerto, K. 622, was the last instrumental concerto Mozart completed, written in 1791 for his friend the virtuoso Anton Stadler.
- The Symphony No. 38 earned its "Prague" nickname because Mozart premiered it in the city in January 1787, during the height of Prague's enthusiasm for his music.
- Conductor Manfred Honeck, an Austrian who later led the Pittsburgh Symphony, brings a Viennese-Bohemian sensibility to this repertoire.
- The concert was recorded as part of the worldwide "24 Hours Mozart" project marking the composer's 250th anniversary year in 2006.
Track Listing
- Overture to "Don Giovanni," K. 527
- Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra in A major, K. 622
- Symphony No. 38 in D major, K. 504 "Prague"
Publishers
Released by EuroArts Music International, 2006. A co-production of EuroArts Music, BVA International, NHK, and Czech Television. Recorded at the Estates Theatre, Prague.
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