Carl Maria Von Weber: Complete Works for Clarinet Sebastian Manz

• Carl Maria von Weber (1786 - 1826): Grand duo concertant, Op. 48:
• 1 Grand duo concertant, Op. 48: I. Allegro con fuoco 06:00
• 2 Grand duo concertant, Op. 48: II. Andante con moto 05:12
• 3 Grand duo concertant, Op. 48: III. Rondo - Allegro 06:09
• Variationen Über Ein Thema Aus Silvana, Op. 33:
• 4 Variationen Über Ein Thema Aus Silvana, Op. 33: Thema 01:37
• 5 Variationen Über Ein Thema Aus Silvana, Op. 33: I. Variation 00:54
• 6 Variationen Über Ein Thema Aus Silvana, Op. 33: II. Variation 00:47
• 7 Variationen Über Ein Thema Aus Silvana, Op. 33: III. Variation 02:23
• 8 Variationen Über Ein Thema Aus Silvana, Op. 33: IV. Variation 00:53
• 9 Variationen Über Ein Thema Aus Silvana, Op. 33: V. Variation 00:55
• 10 Variationen Über Ein Thema Aus Silvana, Op. 33: VI. Variation 02:32
• 11 Variationen Über Ein Thema Aus Silvana, Op. 33: VII. Variation 01:52
• Clarinet Quintet, Op. 34:
• 12 Clarinet Quintet, Op. 34: I. Allegro 10:25
• 13 Clarinet Quintet, Op. 34: II. Fantasia - Adagio 05:32
• 14 Clarinet Quintet, Op. 34: III. Menuetto - Capriccio presto 05:23
• 15 Clarinet Quintet, Op. 34: IV. Rondo - Allegro gioccoso 06:08
• Concertino in E-Flat Major, Op. 26:
• 16 Concertino in E-Flat Major, Op. 26: Concertino 09:04
• Clarinet Concerto No.1 in F Minor, Op. 73:
• 17 Clarinet Concerto No.1 in F Minor, Op. 73: I. Allegro 08:12
• 18 Clarinet Concerto No.1 in F Minor, Op. 73: II. Adagio ma non troppo 06:52
• 19 Clarinet Concerto No.1 in F Minor, Op. 73: III. Rondo - Allegretto 06:05
• Clarinet Concerto No.2 in E-Flat Major, Op. 74:
• 20 Clarinet Concerto No.2 in E-Flat Major, Op. 74: I. Allegro 08:20
• 21 Clarinet Concerto No.2 in E-Flat Major, Op. 74: II. Romanza - Andante 07:11
• 22 Clarinet Concerto No.2 in E-Flat Major, Op. 74: III. Alla Pollaca 06:26
• Total Runtime 01:48:52

Info for Carl Maria Von Weber: Complete Works for Clarinet

The complete recordings of Carl Maria von Weber's clarinet works. That is quite a coup! Sebastian Manz, ARD Music Competition winner and solo clarinettist of the SWR Symphony Orchestra, sums up the years he has devoted to the clarinet works of Carl Maria von Weber by presenting a complete recording of those works on a double album. Weber's two concertos for clarinet and orchestra, a Concertino, a Grand Duo Concertant, the Silvana variations and a clarinet quintet represent some of the most important works for clarinet ever written, true masterpieces of the Romantic era.

Weber's music also marks a milestone in the musical life of Sebastian Manz. In his youth, he heard a recording of the Second Clarinet Concerto - with jazzman Benny Goodman as soloist - and it was Goodman's energetic playing that convinced the young Sebastian Manz that nothing less than intensive engagement with his instrument would do. Like Goodman, who took a jazz musician's liberties with Weber's work, Sebastian Manz himself enhances the compositions with all the artistic devices at his disposal. In preparing for this recording, he made a close study of the score that belonged to Heinrich Joseph Baermann, the great clarinet virtuoso of his day, who kept up a close friendship with Carl Maria von Weber and was involved in the composition of the clarinet works from start to finish.

The consequence was that Baermann prepared his own versions of the works, taken as standard by many clarinettists to this day. Not that Manz ever regarded that as an option! He has developed his own interpretations - resulting in an individual reading full of lightness and artistic invention.

The comprehensive uniqueness on all levels of Sebastian Manz's recording has much to do with the circumstances under which it was produced. As solo clarinettist of SWR's Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart (since September 2016, the SWR Symphony Orchestra) Sebastian Manz was able to bring his own Stuttgart colleagues on board for the recordings - making a team that delves into the technical subtleties of Weber's works while also plumbing their emotional depths. Other recording partners include long-standing (chamber music) friends such as pianist Martin Klett, with whom Sebastian Manz won the German Music Competition back in 2008, the Casal Quartet from Switzerland and double-bass player Lars Olaf Schaper. The bassist backs Manz and the quartet in Weber's famous Clarinet Quintet. As arranged by Sebastian Manz himself.

Sebastian Manz, who began taking clarinet lessons when he was six, was making his own early discoveries of Weber in concert performances both as an early student and later on a degree course with Sabine Meyer and her husband Reiner Wehle in Lübeck, notably in the First Clarinet Concerto and somewhat later in the Concertino, which he performed at EXPO 2000 in particular with the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Hanover under Cornelius Meister. And in 2008, when Manz collected first prize in the clarinet category at the ARD Music Competition - a prize that had not been awarded for 40 years - along with three further prizes and the audience prize, Weber was key to his success. ECHO Klassik awards, a residency in the “Junge Wilde” series at the Konzerthaus in Dortmund - Weber and his oeuvre always plays a decisive part. This complete recording of the clarinet works brings the wheel full circle, for now, for Sebastian Manz: Carl Maria von Weber - sorted.

Sebastian Manz, clarinet
Martin Klett, piano
Lars Olaf Schaper, double bass
Casal Quartett
Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR
Antonio Mendez, conductor

Sebastian Manz
Manz delights the media as a musician “who bowls melodies and notes along in front of him with such agility in their colour and nuances, it is as if they were balls he was expertly juggling …” (SZ). His “overwhelming passion for music making [is combined] with technical perfection” (WAZ) – and the RHEINISCHE POST writes of his CD “In Rhythm: “… it swings and stimulates, refreshes and weeps, and you just cannot get enough of it …”.

His big breakthrough came with his sensational success at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich in September 2008, where he won not only first prize in the Clarinet category, which had not been awarded for forty years, but also the coveted Audience Prize and other special prizes. In the “Duo Riul” with his partner Martin Klett at the piano, he had also won the German Music Competition just a few months previously. Sebastian Manz has since then been one of the most popular soloists and chamber musicians of the younger generation. Two ECHO Klassik awards have confirmed Sebastian Manz as one of the most sought-after soloists and chamber musicians of his generation. He has been solo clarinettist with the SWR Radio Symphony Orchestra in Stuttgart since 2010.

Sebastian Manz has so far performed as soloist at the Rheingau Music Festival and the Weilburg Schloss Concerts, with the SWR Radio Symphony Orchestra of Stuttgart, with the Dresden Philharmonic, at the Konzerthaus in Vienna and with the Bern Symphony Orchestra; he has been on tour with the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra of Heilbronn and the Dogma Chamber Orchestra, under conductors like Herbert Blomstedt, Sir Roger Norrington, Mario Venzago, Cornelius Meister, Eric Solen, Antonio Mendez, John Axelrod, Eugen Tzigane and Ruben Gazarian. In the field of chamber music he has been much in demand as a guest performer at the Beethoven Festival in Bonn, the Mozart Festival in Würzburg, the Heidelberg Spring Music Festival, at the “Spannungen” Festival in the converted power station in Heimbach, at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. His musical partners include Herbert Schuch, Veronika Eberle, Daniela Koch, Ramón Ortega Quero, the Danish String Quartet, the Dover Quartet and the Lotus String Quartet. He was engaged for three years by the Konzerthaus in Dortmund as part of the “Junge Wilde” series, which he brought to a conclusion with a spectacular concert in December 2014.

In the 2015/2016 season Sebastian Manz will undertake a number of international guest tours to Japan, Brazil and Portugal and will be Artist in Residence with the Philharmonie Baden-Baden. He will also make his debut with the Hamburg Symphony and has again accepted an invitation from the Bergische Symphoniker ensemble, to play for the first time ever Magnus Lindberg’s Clarinet Concerto, which has been hitherto considered unplayable. With his piano partner Martin Klett he will give recitals at a number of venues including Salzburg, Stuttgart and Kiel.

His discography now boasts 9 CDs, all of which impressively document his versatility and talent on the instrument and are impressive for their interesting choice of works comprising both standard repertoire and rarely heard works. His most recent recording with the Danish String Quartet compares the clarinet quintets of Robert Fuchs and Johannes Brahms.

Being the grandson of the Russian violinist Boris Goldstein and the son of two pianists, Manz's musical roots are in his German-Russian family background. He was born in Hanover in 1986 and began singing in a boys' choir at the age of six. He first learned the piano, which he plays very well, but soon concentrated on the clarinet after listening to Benny Goodman's recording of Carl Maria von Weber's E flat major Concerto, which fascinated him and awoke a longing for the instrument. Among his most important teachers and supporters were the acclaimed clarinettists Sabine Meyer and Rainer Wehle.

Alongside his concert work, Sebastian Manz has been active for some time in the “Rhapsody in School” organization founded by Lars Vogt, which is committed to bringing classical music into schools.

Booklet for Carl Maria Von Weber: Complete Works for Clarinet