Whether serenade, quartet or sacred aria, Mozart inspired numerous transcriptions and arrangements during his lifetime. Dieter Klöcker and the Mannheim String Quartet reveal how virtuosic and varied Mozart’s music can sound in transcriptions for the same forces as those found in one of his most popular works: clarinet quintet.

The arrangers of the present release all admired Mozart what is the best possible guarantee of a careful transcription. Vincent Gambaro, for example, who arranged the Wind Serenade for clarinet, violin, two violas and cello “sat at the feet of the great composer in Vienna and was himself a prolific composer, arranging the works of the former for his music-loving friends in Paris”. The insight pointed out by Alfred Einstein who claims that the combination of clarinet and string quartet operates “on a higher level” seems to have guided the hands of the arrangers of the works recorded here. Dieter Klöcker is well known for his discoveries of musical treasures, the Mannheim String Quartet studied with Amadeus, LaSalle and Melos Quartets.