Master Class with Dimitri Ashkenazy

Icelandic clarinet virtuoso Dimitri Ashkenazy works with student Salvador Navarro on one of Mozart’s most beautiful compositions for clarinet, the Concerto in A Major, touching on the importance of articulation, presence, ornamentation, and dynamics. First performed in Prague in 1791, it was composed for and premiered by Mozart’s friend and frequent collaborator Anton Stadler. The solo part commonly played today is an adaptation of the original for basset clarinet, an instrument that plays a third lower than the more common B-flat clarinet.